Yondaime's Legacy
by caedmon07
Summary: Second Chapter takes place immediately after manga chapter 349. Akatsuki recruits more members and takes a more aggressive approach. Extensive rewrite in progress.
1. The Dark Place

He was in the dark place again. But why? Hadn't he done what he was supposed to? "What do you want from me?" he screamed, "You've taken everything from me. What possible use could you have for me now?" His angry inquiries were greeted with silence. He tried to sit up but could easily see that the restraints were of excellent quality. Slamming his head back hard onto the examining table, the young man cursed. He had been here many times before and each time it was the same. Two meters to his right was a larger table whose top surface he had never seen. As usual, it was covered by test tubes, vials, and other instruments that were used to concoct the injections he received. Straight ahead were two computers with screens filled with data about his vitals and body chemistry.

The room was cold and uninviting, to say the least. But even more uninviting was the man that he heard enter the room through the door behind him. "Now, now, now," clucked his tormenter, "Why the ruckus? You certainly don't want to reveal our presence to the families of all the people you've killed, do you?" As he heard this last question, the young man saw his tormenter come into view. The sinister face he loathed wore its usual evil smirk.

"How dare you?" he growled, "You know perfectly well that those people would still be alive if you had kept up your end of the deal and cured me. And that's exactly what I'd tell them Orochimaru."

"Just because I haven't cured you yet doesn't mean I have no intention of doing so," Orochimaru replied, "Besides after this procedure, I'll have a full understanding of your illness. Then I'll be able to treat you and you can live a normal life." As he said this, the serpent-looking man adjusted the light above the examination table and began to place several scalpels on the table with all the vials and such. "Perhaps it would put your mind at ease," he said, "If I were to tell you what this procedure is designed to do." He paused for a moment. When he didn't hear any objections, he continued. "Up until now, our past procedures have aimed at knowing the causes, results, and sequence of body changes that result from your condition. This procedure is designed to measure the full extent of it. In other words, to find out the worst it could get without treatment."

Orochimaru walked back from the table and into the light. With his best attempt at sympathy, he added "Once I know this last piece of the puzzle, I'll be able to treat you Juugo. But, not before."

"That's a poor excuse for what you intend to do to him," declared a female voice from behind Juugo.

The next to speak up did so following a light clicking sound. "Karin," the man said, "I advise that you address Orochimaru-sama with more respect. Besides you know how awful things can get if you don't."

"Kabuto," Juugo thought. Orochimaru's lieutenant had a very distinct voice and the clicking sound must have been from him adjusting his glasses. He hated that sadistic bastard almost as much as Orochimaru. The two of them were always present when he was in the dark place. But why was Karin there? Why would either of them wish to have two of their prized experiments interact? The answer to that question was immediate.

"It's alright Kabuto," Orochimaru said as he moved toward them, "It is good that Karin wishes for Juugo to be taken care of. After all, she is going to help insure that the lad doesn't suffer during the procedure."

Juugo heard Kabuto snicker. "So that was it", he said to himself, "They are forcing Karin to take part in this experiment as a form of punishment."

When Karin's face came into view, he could tell that she took no pleasure in being there. As she gave him his injection, she didn't say a word. She didn't have to. She said it all in her eyes. "I'm sorry," they told him.

"I know," he whispered to her.

Karin stepped back into the darkness. Kabuto had taken a chair in front of one of the computers and was reading out changes in Juugo's condition. For the first few minutes, Juugo felt a bit sick to his stomach, but that was it. Suddenly, it started. The light in the room separated and small globes of light rushed by. He closed his eyes, but the lights were there as well. Swirling faster and faster, the lights forced Juugo to shutter. Images of murder, blood, and human suffering appeared in his mind's eye. These weren't merely memories. They each passed as thought they had just transpired.

"Curse Seal Level one reached," he heard Kabuto say. The images filled his head. He not longer felt corporeal. It was as though he was being forced to watch something that looked like him ravaging innocent people. "Stop," he heard himself scream, "Please…"

That was it; he could no longer put together a coherent thought. All he felt was emotion. Sensations became the words. Agony, fear, pleasure, he cycled through each without reason; without any outside influence. He was no longer human.

Karin gasped. Juugo's form was that of a cross between a gryphon and a dragon. "What had they done?" she wondered.

"Cursed Seal Level three reached," Kabuto announced with a smile, "You were right Orochimaru-sama. A third level of the cursed seal is within our grasp. With this, not even Akatsuki can stop us."


	2. Karin's Ability

Uchiha Sasuke quickly sheathed his sword. The man he had just struck down had returned to normal. All traces of the cursed seal had left him. He was peacefully resting in his unconscious state, a stark contrast to the feral appearance the man had had moments before.

"It's hard to believe that's the same man," Suigetsu said echoing Sasuke's thoughts, "I wonder how many of these animals await us. It should be fun practice eh, Sasuke?"

Suigetsu's face was lit up with a malicious grin that bore all of his sharp, pointed teeth. "But then again", he remarked, "It would be a real drag if we showed all of them the mercy you just showed that guy."

Suigetsu and Karin walked up beside Sasuke. They were all staring at the large compound nestled amongst the rocks. The Northern base had a main building as well as four guard towers, equally spaced around the main structure. Of course, the guards were dead. Their bodies littered the path to the compound.

"So what's the plan?" Suigetsu asked as they made their way over the rocks, "I doubt your merciful theatrics will do well against several hundred inmates, many of whom have been injected with the cursed seal enzyme. We'll need to be vicious. Anything else and we're dead."

Sasuke stopped right in front of the door. He stared at the ground for a few moments. "You're right", he decided, "We will have to kill. But conserve your charka. Somehow I doubt that Juugo will come willingly."

Suigetsu grinned and tightly gripped his large sword. "Yeah", he chuckled, "That means Karin will actually have to do something. I'm dying to know what it is that made you seek her out."

"Karin", Sasuke said, "We need kunai."

"How many", she asked.

"As many as you can. But make sure you save half of your charka. We'll need your abilities again once we defeat the other inmates."

Karin nodded in agreement. She formed several hand seals and dropped her arms to her sides. She balled her hands into fists. After a few seconds, her fists began to glow. Her fingers seemed to merge on the flat part of her fists. It was as if there was a pool of flesh above her fingers. The pools shimmered. From each, a small metal point appeared. It pushed itself out and, as it moved, more and more of the connected metal appeared in the unmistakable shape of a triangular blade. The entire process took 10 seconds. When it was over, two kunai laid on the ground. She released some more charka and started again.

When she was done, there were forty four kunai on the ground. Sasuke reached into his pouch and pulled out two scrolls of exploding tags. He handed one to Suigetsu and they set to work wrapping them around the daggers. Once that was done, Sasuke gave his orders.

"Suigetsu take a look inside."

_The southeast wing of the Northern Compound_

The southeastern door was rusted and old. It also had a large gap between its bottom and the floor. A small stream of matter flowed silently through the gap and pooled just inside the building. The water shimmered and congealed into the shape of a man.

"It's clear," Suigetsu said. He hastily unlocked the door and his two comrades snuck in.

"Juugo is on the other side of the compound," Karin said, "We'll have to go through the common area."

"Which is where most of them probably are," Sasuke commented, "So let's get moving."

They raced down the hallway, a flight of stairs and another hallway lined with empty jail cells. At the end of the hallway, they came to a halt. They heard movement. Suigetsu readied his sword and turned to his leader.

"What shoul…."

But he never had time to finish. Sasuke flew around the corner and the next thing they heard was a body hit the floor.

At the end of the next hallway was a locked door. Sasuke quickly formed a number of seals.

"No!" Karin hissed grabbing his wrist, "That won't work. This door was set up to repel all charka except for that which enters the lock. Chakra emitted anywhere else and it won't unlock."

"So what do we do?" Suigetsu asked clearly puzzled.

"Yeah, yeah give me a second."

She formed some seals and made a fist. There was a burst of illumination and she opened the hand to reveal a metal rod. She put it in the key hole. They could all hear the rod alter its shape to fit the lock. With a swift twist, the door was unlocked. Karin pulled the "key" out. The rod quickly morphed into its original cylindrical form. She pocked it.

_Juugo's Cell_

"Yes definitely a girl," Juugo said to himself as he sat in his cell. "They scream the loudest after all. No wait, guys….yes guys. It's always excellent to see a man's muscles torn apart for their failure to compete with mine."

He giggled to himself. The corrupt charka covered his body. It felt good. It felt right. But what didn't feel right was the fact that he had all this destruction to do.

"After all", he said aloud, "If I was blessed with this power, it would be a shame to waste it."

He grinned at his own cunning and then started up again. "A boy, no wait a girl. Definitely a girl. A good, pretty one…"

_Elsewhere in the Base_

"Steel Volley"

Karin clasped her hands together. All forty four kunai rose up into the air and soared past her into the common area. The ensuing explosion ripped through the base. All three of them had been forced to the floor as debris flew over them. When the dust cleared, Sasuke and Suigetsu drew their swords and rushed into the room.

Fortunately, most of the inmates were taken out by the blast. They encountered little resistance as they reached the northwestern wing of the complex. At the end of the hallway was a large cell with a thick, black steel door. It had two keyholes and the name "Juugo" was etched in the center of the door.

"I guess the other inmates were too afraid to release Juugo," Suigetsu whispered as they walked to the door.

"And with good reason," Karin confirmed. She released a bit more chakra and produced another rod. She handed Sasuke the new one. "We have to unlock them at the same time. On the count of three..."

Karin started the count. At three, they unlocked the door. As the door swung open, a figure bolted towards them from inside the cell. Sasuke grabbed Karin and quickly moved her out of the way as Juugo rushed by. Their attacker had activated his cursed seal level 2 transformation. His skin was dark red. He had a pair of horns ablaze with dark charka on his head. His hands were clawed and his feet were hoofed. He never slowed down. Sasuke had dove to the side, with Karin in tow, leaving only Suigetsu in the path of Juugo's onslaught.

Suigetsu grunted from the strain as he managed to counter Juugo's claw with his sword. Juugo swung with his other claw and struck Suigetsu square in the chest. The latter dissolved into water.

"A water clone?" thought Juugo. He spun around in time to see the real Suigetsu who had gone airborne. Suigetsu thrust his sword downward in an over the top attack. Juugo crossed his arms and blocked.

Suigetsu ducked under the counter attack. He thrust once more and nicked his opponent's side with the very end of his blade. Juugo's body gleamed and he grew a spiked tail. He swung around his tail converged on the sword.

Once he was sure Karin was safe, Sasuke whispered his plan into her ears. He removed his shirt and activated the second level of his curse seal. He gently kicked off the ground and flew towards the fight. He darted in between them. He landed just in time to grab Juugo's tail with his hands. Suigetsu leapt again and swung at the beast. The horned giant stumbled backwards to evade the attack.

"Karin," Sasuke yelled, "Now!"

"Steel Thread Technique"

Steel strings erupted from her palms and wrapped themselves around Juugo's tail. She gripped the strings tightly with both hands. As Juugo stumbled back to avoid injury, Karin tugged. Since he was already moving backwards, Juugo's momentum sent him crashing to the floor. She wrapped the string ends in a ball and dropped it to the ground with a thud.

"Copper Transmutation Technique"

She reached down and touched the steel threads. The strings' color changed from gray to a reddish-orange. Sasuke's sword came to life. Electricity surged around it. He swung and connected with the copper strings.

"Chidori Nagashi"

Sasuke's paralysis version of chidori was channeled through his sword into the strings. Due to the high conductivity of copper, the electricity wrapped itself around Juugo. He went limp. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he reverted back to his usual human form.

"Tie him up Suigetsu," Sasuke said as he too deactivated his curse seal, "And then carry him. It's time we got moving.


	3. Intimate Comrades

"He's waking up," one voice said. "About time," said another.

Juugo opened his eyes and tried to sit up. His muscles felt weak and he collapsed. A strong arm pulled hum to his feet.

"Can you walk?" Sasuke asked simply.

"Um yeah I think so," Juugo answered uncertainly as he took a cautious step forward. He stumbled the first few feet but was able to maintain a slow shuffle after that. "Where are we?" he asked as he looked out on the forest trail.

"Well," Sasuke replied as he and the other walked beside Juugo, "You've been out of it for about two hours. Between that and the breaks, we're about five miles south of where we found you."

"Yeah but we'd be further along if Suigetsu didn't have to take a water break every fifty yard," Karin quipped

"Ah come on!" Suigetsu protested, "I've had to carry the tall psychotic killer the entire time."

"Then what was your excuse when we walked to the northern base?"

"You guys were…"

"Cut it out," Sasuke interrupted, "We need to be quiet and pick up the pace."

Juugo stopped walking. "No," he said, "You need to take me back now. It's only a matter of time before I lose control again."

"Don't worry," Sasuke assured him, "I can stop you if you lose control. Besides, if things go as I have planned, you won't have to worry about losing control again."

Juugo eyed the former Konoha shinobi with skepticism. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe you," he said, "But you are far from the first person to promise me a cure. I've even begun to doubt if such a cure exists. So even if I were to believe that your intentions were good, which I don't fully, I have little faith in any miracle cure that you advertise."

Sasuke took a step forward. He was now face to face with the taller man. "What else would you do?" he asked, "Go back to your cell and die in solitude. I don't think you want that. I think you'd rather be with someone like me, someone who can keep you in check. I killed Orochimaru. That alone should be proof of my generosity and my ability."

Juugo hesitated. He seemed to weigh his options.

"Listen," Sasuke said after a while, "We are on a tight schedule. I can't say anything else to convince you; you have all the information you need. I need to know if you are on board or not right now."

_Later that day_

That night they took turns keeping watch. Karin was on duty. She stared into the orange flames of their fire. This was the closest she had been to a fire that wasn't being applied to her flesh. She shivered as the image of Yakushi Kabuto appeared in her mind. She shook her head and tried to erase that sadistic man from her thoughts. She looked around the campsite. Suigetsu and Juugo were sound asleep. Sasuke, however, was nowhere to be found. She slowly stood up and made a quick visual sweep of the area.

A gentle breeze rustled some of the branches in the trees in front of her. Through this narrow window, she saw the outline of a person. Cautiously she approached. Every step she took was filled both with the relief that she had found him and the terror of the possibility that the person she had seen was an enemy.

"Karin," said a voice behind her. She jumped with surprise and let out a scream. "Shush," Sasuke said clasping his hand over her mouth, "Why did you leave the others?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she retorted. She was annoyed both at the ease with which she had been frightened and at the fact that she had allowed her affection for him to make her careless.

"I wanted to be alone to think. Besides, as long as I was in range and you stayed put, it didn't matter. So, I repeat, why did you seek me out?"

"I, um, wanted to talk to you." She felt childish. This was hardly behavior becoming of a shinobi.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. His eyes bore into hers. She felt naked under his gaze. After an uncomfortable silence, he relented. "Very well," he agreed, "But near the fire and quietly."

He was clearly uninterested in having a meaningful conversation. For a moment, Karin considered dropping the matter. But she merely nodded in agreement. They made their way to the fire and sat down across from the other two. Once she had gotten comfortable, she asked, "Did you not have any friends back in Konoha?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, if you had friends, why would you leave them and go to Orochimaru? Wouldn't it have made you happier to stay with your friends than to seek a man that wished to take possession of your body?

"I'm an avenger Karin. Human comforts are of little importance. All that matters is my goal. I had to choose a path that would allow me to reach it."

"And staying in Konoha would have prevented you from gaining the power to kill your brother? Are you absolutely sure that you couldn't have found another way to do so?"

"What do you want from me?" Sasuke was clearly angry. "Don't you think I asked myself those very same questions? Do you really think I would have left the village if I had felt that there was a better way to reach my goal?"

"Well, no I didn't mean," she started

"What do you want?" he repeated

Moisture collected around her eyelids. She swallowed hard and pleaded, "Please, Sasuke…just answer the question."

Sasuke's anger vanished from his face. Her actions around him had always struck him as unnecessary and excessive. Also, he had become annoyed with both her and Suigetsu because they were constantly bickering. On several occasions he found himself thinking that if it weren't for her unique abilities, he never would have given her a second thought. But despite all this, he couldn't bring himself to deny her request.

"Okay," he sighed, "It was possible, but not likely. And I was not willing to leave it to chance."

"But didn't you benefit immensely from training under the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi? After all, he taught you Chidori, the basis for many of the techniques you developed later."

"It's true that I owe Kakashi thanks for that. However, having mastered that, there was little more I could learn from him. In order to defeat Itachi, I need to develop my Sharingan to defend against his Mangekyo Sharingan. Though skilled in the use of the Sharingan, Kakashi was not an Uchiha and, thus, his capabilities with it were limited. Now as for Konoha in general, there were few others I could learn from. Plus, my desire for revenge didn't exactly mesh well with Konoha's peace-loving moral code."

"I see," Karin's face dropped. She reached down and fiddled with some dry pieces of tree bark on the ground. "And your friends," she inquired, throwing a chip into the fire, "What were they like?"

For a moment, Sasuke's eyes betrayed his emotions. Even he was nostalgic. This gave Karin hope; hope that she could find the passion that he fought so desperately to bury. This quickly passed, however, and he was once again stoic.

"I really only had two friends," he began, "Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Naruto was a moron. However, he was also extremely driven. It's his determination that has allowed him to survive. He also had the ability to bring out the best in people. This made him a very endearing person. Unfortunately, that's also why I had to cut my bonds with him. I didn't need to change my heart and learn forgiveness. Itachi doesn't deserve forgiveness. If I forget that, my family goes un-avenged. So, I couldn't stay any longer with someone whose values stood between me and what really matters in my life."

"That's understandable."

"Yeah," Sasuke said as if to convince himself. He gazed into the fire as he allowed himself to indulge in his memories of bliss and friendship. Testifying to all the convictions that he held, had forced him back into thinking about the time he made the decision to leave. He told himself for the hundredth time that there would be opportunities to regain what he had lost. He only had to…

"What about Sakura?"

"Why all the questions?"

Sasuke felt drained from the conversation and the day's journey. He wanted to uncover the meaning of this interrogation quickly so he could get some rest.

Karin moved next to him. "I just want to know the greatest man in the world," she cooed, "I'll never forget what you did for me."

Sasuke was clearly bewildered. "Um", he said uncertainly, "It wasn't much really…could you not get so close?"

Karin ignored his question. She nestled her head on his left shoulder. "Oh but it was something. You were the first man outside of my family to stand up for me and treat me like a human. You have no idea how much that invigorates a woman and brings out her passion." As she spoke, she brought her face close to his and braced herself for a kiss.

"Suigetsu," Sasuke said, "It isn't your turn to keep watch. Go back to bed."

"Ah, come on!" Suigetsu pleaded, "Things were starting to get interesting. I really want to see what happens next."

Karin's face turned beet red. She quickly removed her hands from Sasuke's neck and slowly slinked away from him. But when she heard laughter from Suigetsu's direction, embarrassment melted away into rage. She leapt across the fire onto his back and started raining down punches. Sasuke quickly lifted her off her feet and carried her back to his side of the fire. Juugo abruptly awoke and gazed sleepily about trying to make sense of the odd events unfolding.

"Go back to sleep Juugo," Sasuke said.

"Actually I'm fine since I slept when you rendered me unconscious earlier. I'll switch with you."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. He took a pair of blankets from his knapsack and made a bed for himself. He was about to lie down when he remembered something. "To answer your question Karin, Sakura was like you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she screeched.

He merely shrugged and added, "Take it however you like. Goodnight." He smiled a bit as he turned on his side and closed his eyes.


	4. Pathways

The early part of the trip the next day was carried out in absolute silence. Both Suigetsu and Karin were refusing to talk to each other. In fact, silence probably would have endured if Juugo hadn't spoken. "I've been wondering," he said, "How is it that all the bases learned of Orochimaru's demise so quickly?"

"Simple," Sasuke answered, "They found out because I saw to it that they knew.

flashback

"_Where do you think you're going?"_

_Kabuto dropped a vial and spun around. "Um, no…nowhere," he stammered, "I was just preparing some medicine to help you."_

_Sasuke regarded him with skepticism. The boy was standing at the doorway of Kabuto's lab. He turned his head to speak to someone in the hallway. "Suigetsu, go on ahead, I'll meet you outside."_

_A few moments later, Kabuto heard a door slam shut. Sasuke took a step forward into the room. "What are you doing?" he demanded, "I hope for your sake that you aren't trying to undermine me. Don't forget that your master is gone. He won't be able to stop me this time." When Kabuto didn't respond, he pressed on. "I need you to come with me. I have a job for you."_

_Kabuto felt sweat trickling down his back. Sasuke could easily make good on his threats. "What would you like me to do?"_

_Sasuke didn't answer. He simply walked out the door. Kabuto hesitated at first but followed suit. They wandered down a few corridors and up some stairs as they made their way to the roof. When they got there, Sasuke led him to the cage of messenger birds that Kabuto had personally trained._

_"You want me to send a message for you?" Kabuto asked. Inwardly, he let out a sigh of relief. It was a simple job. But it did beg the question of who the boy was wanting to contact. _

_"Here" Sasuke said handing him two scrolls, "I want one sent to the Northern base and one to the Southern base. Furthermore, send them to the inmates, not the guards."_

_"What do they say?"_

_"That Orochimaru is dead"_

_"Are you mad? If you tell the prisoners that they will revolt! Hundreds of people could die! Do you want that on your conscience?"_

_In a rare outburst of rage, Sasuke grabbed him by the throat with his right hand. He firmly grasped his Chokuto sword in his left hand and brought its tip mere millimeters from Kabuto's throat. "Conscience?" he spat, "How dare you speak to me about conscience?! Tell me, how many people did you and Orochimaru kill?" Kabuto didn't answer. Sasuke threw him to the floor and continued shouting. "You two wanted power, right? Well I can respect that. But what I can't respect is accomplishing that through experimenting on innocents. That makes you no better than Akatsuki. Now get up and do your job before I kill you."_

_Kabuto picked himself off the floor. He threw his shattered glasses away in disgust. He glared at Sasuke but he did as he was told._

end flashback

"What I don't get," Suigetsu said, "Is why you left the weasel alive? Or…did you? Please tell me you at least incapacitated him. If he is allowed to roam freely it would be nothing but trouble for us.

"That's why I didn't allow him to roam free."

flashback

_"Keep moving," Sasuke bellowed giving Kabuto another push in the back, "I don't have time to waste on the likes of you." Kabuto obeyed. When they got to a cell block, Sasuke put him in the first one. He fastened a chakra ball and chain to the sound ninja's ankle. In front of Kabuto, he left a crate._

_"This crate," Sasuke said, "Contains enough food to last you two weeks." He closed the door and added, "I'll be back. And when I do return, I'm going to give you a chance to attune for some of your sins. You're going to reverse what you did to Juugo, Suigetsu, and Karin." He turned and left Kabuto alone with thoughts."_

end flashback

The rest of the morning passed in silence. No one spoke until they broke for lunch. They chose a small clearing near the path that was filled with tall, soft grass. Leaning back on a pine tree pointing due south, Sasuke munched on a rice ball. He noticed that Karin and Suigetsu continued to trade threatening looks. He sighed inwardly and wondered if they would be able to work together when the need arose. "I supposed I should say something now," he thought, "Even though it probably won't do much good." Once he had finished eating, he stood up and slapped his pants to brush the dirt off of them. He cleared his throat and announced: "We should reach the base in about eight hours. When we get there, I will force Kabuto to help each of you."

"I was meaning to ask you about that," Juugo interjected, "I take it you have something you want use to do in exchange? I'd like to know what that is."

"You don't have to do anything in return. Rather, this action on my part is a gesture of goodwill that I hope will make you open to at least hearing about my goals. If you do listen to what I would like you to do and you decide not to help that is also fine. It is a very dangerous job; I can tell you that now. As such, this is completely voluntary and becomes binding only when you agree to the job and all that it entails."

"So you would be okay with none of us helping you after you helped us?"

"Well, I would be disappointed but yes I could accept that."

That seemed to satisfy Juugo. The taller man screwed on the cap of his water bottle and joined Sasuke in standing up. He had found great respect for his liberator. Gratification soon conceded to anger when Suigetsu mocked him. "What's wrong Juugo, afraid of getting your hands dirty? Geez you really are something. I can't believe you'd expect us to get you cured in return for nothing!" He leapt up and pushed Juugo. "Thanks to Sasuke, none of us will have to suffer from the evil deeds of Orochimaru any longer. We owe him our lives and he isn't even asking us to fully pay that debt. Will his request involve danger and possible death? Of course it will! But it will also be one that will allow us to do some good. That I can promise you!"

"Besides," he added giving Juugo a second, yet friendlier, shove, "It would be the perfect opportunity for you to repay your debt to society."

"Nice speech, too bad you don't believe half of it," Karin retorted, "You're just mad because Juugo's abilities would ensure that you wouldn't have to do much."

"Can it you stupid bitch! Don't get all self-righteous with me. There's not a damn thing wrong with you except for your crazy mood swings!"

"Oh yeah, well what's wrong with you? What experiments did Orochimaru perform on you?"

"What about you?"

"I asked you first."

Suigetsu looked to Sasuke for some intervention. He got none. Instead, the latter shrugged and told them there would be plenty of time for story telling as they walked. So, one they had gotten underway, Suigetsu relented and opened up:

"A few years ago, my teacher Momochi Zabuza declared my training complete. He had dedicated about two years to training me as a swordsman with a good background in water based ninjutsu. It was then that he let me in on his plan to overthrow the Mist Village's Mizukage. With all the arrangements made, I left one evening for the meeting place we had picked. From there we would strike quickly. Unfortunately, I never made it.

"I was attacked and captured by Kaguya Kimmimaro, who then brought me to see Orochimaru. What followed was the most painful month of my life. Orochimaru decided to alter the very foundation of my body chemistry. His goal was to duplicate the bloodline limit of the Tsuchikage, the Rock Village's Kage. This bloodline allows its user to assume the form of an elemental of whatever chakra element they choose. This makes them very versatile and virtually impervious to elemental ninjutsu. Needless to say, it's a very desirable trait to have.

"Unfortunately, he failed. He later hypothesized that he might have been successful had he tried to incorporate all five elements at once rather than trying to give me each elemental form separately. But he didn't. Instead, I got one elemental form: the water one. He chose to give me that one first since my chakra has a natural affinity for water. That made it easiest to mold around all the cells of my body, resulting in an elemental form. Surprisingly, this worked well. I had a perfect elemental form that I could activate with a single thought. Furthermore, I could assume a water form for as long as three and a half days. But rather than letting the experiment end on a stable and safe note, he pressed on.

The second element he attempted to incorporate into the process was fire, the element that is weak against water. He thought that water's dominance would result in the foreign water chakra keeping the new fire chakra under control. This would, in theory, stabilize my body and make the new elemental form as easily obtainable as the first. The theory was sound. It might even have worked. As Kabuto would tell me later, the procedure would have been more likely to proceed had they not rushed the second stage. They were about to carry out the attack on Konoha that would result in the assassination of the Third Hokage. In order to increase their chances of success, they wanted me stronger.

Instead, of giving me a second elemental form, their haste made things worse. The fire-based chakra interfered with the first form and my body in general. As for my water elemental form, I can only hold it for two hours max. In addition, the chakra drain of making the transformation has more than doubled. And finally, I get dehydrated easily and have to consume at least three gallons of water a day. When they realized this, I was stored in a water tank for years."

After a few moments, Juugo asked, "So what now? What are your goals?"

"Originally," Suigetsu answered, "It was to become one of the Mist's Legendary Swordsmen just like Zabuza-senpai. But in recent months, they have all allied themselves with the Mizukage under orders of their leader Hoshigaki Kisame of Akatsuki. This is the result of the new alliance between the Water Country and Akatsuki. When I heard that the other swordsmen were working for the man whose destruction my master had tried desperately to bring about, I felt betrayed. So now, not only do I plan to assassinate the Mizukage but I also plan to kill the swordsmen." He grinned when he divulged the names of his intended victims. "And, oh yeah, one other thing," he chuckled, "I also want Samehada, Kisame's sword since it was the weapon Zabuza-senpai wanted."

"What a stupid ambition," Karin sneered, "Even if you succeed all you'll be is a failed experiment with a pair of swords that are useless in the hands of a degenerate like you."

Juugo ignored her words and instead asked "What about you Karin? What did Orochimaru do to you?"

At first, she said nothing but when she did speak the bitterness that she carried towards her tormenters was evident:

"The Tsuchikage's family, the Soshi clan possesses the most famous bloodline limit in the Hidden Rock Village. It is not, however, the only one in the village. Another such kekkei genkai is held by family the Angos clan. We are called "smelters." Our unique abilities include magnetism, form manipulation and in the more advanced, like myself, the ability to transmute a metal into another one. It was for this bloodline that Orochimaru sought me out.

"After Kimmimaro died, Orochimaru wanted a backup body for Sasuke. So, he decided to alter me in an effort to make me a 'suitable' container. He injected melted iron ore into my chakra circulatory system. He also laced the iron with an enzyme that would allow for the iron to be released through the same parts of the body as my chakra. This is what allows my techniques to utilize the injected iron and replenish whatever iron is lost. Finally, he grafted a thin layer of steel to much of my skeletal structure. When I release my iron rich chakra, it interacts with the steel on my bones to produce steel objects in my body. Then I simply have to remove them through my chakra channels."

He wanted to replicate Kimmimaro's ability to create weapons from his body. Instead, his tampering has had horrendous effects. The repeated use of the new abilities he gave me has caused me to suffer from the early stages of radiation sickness. Unless cured, I'll be dead within a few years. Also, he miscalculated the iron balance and my metallurgy abilities are a much higher drain on my chakra reserves that they should be."

"Radiation sickness," Juugo repeated, "That could have easily been cured by Kabuto."

"He was going to," she nodded, "Until I upset him."

flashback

_It was cold. It didn't help that she was naked and restrained on a marble table. She closed her eyes and tried to think about warm places. She thought of the beach where her parents had taken her for her eighth birthday. She even tried picturing a desert. None of it worked. When she heard Kabuto's voice, she felt as thought she had been thrust into a pool of ice._

_"Well," he said, "I've determined the source of the problem and I'll start shortly. But first, I'll remove the restraints. They won't be necessary since you want me to perform this procedure."_

_He gathered chakra in his left hand and crossed the room. With one swift motion, he sliced through the restraints. When she tried to sit up, he slapped his hand on her right leg. It went numb and wouldn't respond. She quickly swerved off the opposite side of the table, supporting most of her weight on her left leg. She had taken no more than three steps before she lost feeling in her remaining leg and crashed to the floor._

_Kabuto quickly undressed. Horror consumed her. She now realized why he had chosen to have her completely undressed. He stooped down and lifted her up. She tried offering some resistance with her fists but the paralysis had already spread to her shoulder blades. _

_"Come on now," Kabuto laughed, "You didn't think I'd cure you without some sort of payment did you?"_

_She screamed. She put all her energy into it. Kabuto wasn't fazed. He laid her back on the table. Then, he straddled her and tossed his glasses to the side. He laid his hands on her legs and caressed them. He lifted them above her head and began to move in. But before anything happened, he heard a familiar sound…the sound of a thousand birds."_

_"Chidori"_

_A section of the far wall exploded and Sasuke walked in. "Let her go," the Uchiha demanded._

_When Kabuto didn't move, the young man quickly crossed the room and connected with a hard left punch that knocked the sound ninja off the table. He whipped out three kunai. Kabuto struggled to his feet and tried to put up a defense. However, the punch had made him sluggish and Sasuke's speed was superior to his own. He was unable to stop Sasuke from pinning him to the wall, one kunai in each arm. He tried to kick at the boy, but missed. His failed attack was rewarded by the placement of the third kunai at his throat._

_"What the hell is this?" Orochimaru asked casually._

_Sasuke dropped the kunai and slowly turned to face his teacher. The legendary Sannin stood at the doorway, arms folded. He was clearly amused._

end flashback

"After that, Orochimaru made me work for him until I paid off my 'debt' from that incident."

Once Karin had finished speaking, even Suigetsu's eyes betrayed a faint glimmer of sympathy. And so, they continued walking; walking as one.


	5. Kabuto's Treachery

3596…3597…3598…3599…3600

3600 seconds. One hour. Kabuto smiled and opened his eyes. It had been a full hour since Sasuke and Suigetsu had left. That meant that they should be long gone and wouldn't be able to interfere. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. He held it up in front of his face and admired his own resourcefulness. It was this little trinket that would change everything. And to think that if Sasuke had been a minute earlier in recruiting him to send those messages, he never would have been able to snatch it.

When Orochimaru had attempted to take over Uchiha Itachi's body, he lost one of his arms. Ever since then, this arm, with the Akatsuki ring still on it, had been preserved and included in the mass of possessions that the former Sannin took with him from base to base. When Sasuke defeated Orochimaru, Kabuto knew he had to take the ring for himself.

When his master died, Kabuto had felt lost and alone. He no longer had someone to follow; no longer had a cause. He briefly considered strengthening the Sound Village and running it. But, then he remembered that news of Orochimaru's demise would cause many to leave long before he could reach them and convince them to follow him. Furthermore, that would not allow him to reach his new goal: avenging Orochimaru's death. So what he needed was an atmosphere where he'd be safe from Sasuke and could gain power. The only place that came to mind was Akatsuki.

Kabuto took a deep breath and slipped the ring onto his left pinkie, the same finger that his master had worn the ring on. At first, nothing happened. He held his breath and braced himself. Sure enough, it happened. His head snapped back and his eyes slammed shut. It felt as though the world was rushing past at high speed. It was a sensation a kin to blasting off in a rocket ship. As soon as it began, it ended. Kabuto opened his eyes. He was in a dimly lit room filled with parchments, scrolls, books, chemicals, and a wide variety of weapons. It was obviously a personal supply/study room. This was verified when he saw a solitary figure standing across the room in the shadows.

"Interesting experience isn't it?" said the figure, "I'm surprised Orochimaru never told you about it."

"No, he did," Kabuto replied shakily, "But it doesn't seem to be something you can fully understand until you've experienced it." This was a technique of the Akatsuki Leader, a person so mysterious that only the most prominent members knew his identity. The technique allowed his followers to congregate as projections of themselves while their real bodies' were kept away safe. It was one of many that had asserted the leader as the organization's most powerful member. Of course, many of his techniques had been passed to the other members, so one had to wonder if this was one of them. If not, that would mean he was…

"The Leader," he said aloud as the figure entered the light. The man was average height. He was fairly thin with wavy auburn hair. He had three nose rings and his eyes were an ominous, cold gray.

"That's right," the man said, "I am the leader. My name is Akuma Fuzen."

Kabuto felt all the hairs on his back stand upright. A cold sweat leaked from his pores. "That's not possible," he stammered, "You'd have to be over 200 years old."

Fuzen smiled. "After following the lead of Sasori and Orochimaru, both of whom had techniques to extend their lives, why would that surprise you?"

"You're right," Kabuto smiled uneasily. He relaxed a bit and finally found the courage to look Fuzen in the eyes.

"Speaking of Orochimaru," Fuzen began, "now that he's dead, I assume that you wish to come in. Your assignment ended with his death."

"Yes, that's right."

"However, I do find it rather unusual that you took so long to report in since it was Sasori who gave you the assignment and he's been dead for several months now."

Kabuto's mind raced. The comment had not been phrased as an accusation but he would be naïve not to recognize it as one. It would also be foolish of him not to realize the danger he faced if his responses were deemed unacceptable. He had to make his lies both reasonable and unemotional.

"I didn't have an opportunity to do so until now," he claimed, "Besides, the information I have gathered on his research should more than make up for this period of silence."

"That certainly sounds reasonable. But, nevertheless, I still intend to pass judgment later."

"Of course" Kabuto had to make a conscious effort to hide his nervousness. Contacting Akatsuki was a risky decision. If they decided that he was untrustworthy, his days were numbered. He had to convince them of his worth. So, he mentioned his other bargaining chip: "I also have information on Uchiha Sasuke's group. That should come in handy since they could pose a problem for you down the road."

"A problem?" Fuzen asked, "What makes you think we intend to kill Sasuke?"

Fuzen's words shocked Kabuto. "You don't mean to recruit Sasuke?"

"Indeed I do. But don't worry, I can promise you that he won't kill you. Now, is that all?"

"Yes," Kabuto conceded.

"Very well, we will be in touch," Fuzen said as he formed a number of seals.

The second time Kabuto experienced Fuzen's technique, it was far less unsettling. Within moments, he found himself back in his cell covered in a cold sweat.

_A few hours later_

Kabuto awoke when he felt two strong arms pull him up and hold him up in the air. But when he opened his eyes, he saw that no one was even touching him. On the far side of the cell, Fuzen stood watching him. It was as though the Akatsuki Leader was holding him with the power of his mind. He looked down and saw that the chakra ball and chain had been disabled.

"You are probably wondering," Fuzen said, "How we could have reached a decision so quickly." When he saw Kabuto nod in agreement, he continued: "Well, when we first spoke, I purposely dragged out the conversation while the others in my organization raided the various bases that you and Orochimaru operated out of. So, by the time you and I were done talking, all the information that was key to our decision was within reach. This was done so that you couldn't destroy or hide things you didn't want us to see."

Kabuto shuddered. He had a good idea of what was about to happen.

"It turns out," Fuzen said, "That I was wise to take such precautions."

Fuzen reached into his side pouch and pulled out a small notebook. He walked over to Kabuto and indicated various pages of interest as he spoke. "Zetsu found this in your downstairs lab", he began, "Itachi, Zetsu, Kisame, Kakuzu, and Sasori." His hand stopped on Sasori's page. "You created a scrapbook that listed each member you knew of as well as strategies to killing them. Now tell me, how am I to believe that you intended to rejoin us when you wrote this book?"

Kabuto licked his dry lips and came up with the only answer he could. "I stopped writing that after Master Sasori's death. In fact, I was going to destroy but I guess I forgot." He flashed a nervous grin to sell the lie by appearing to be truly embarrassed.

"If that's so," Fuzen snarled, "Then how do you explain this?" He turned the page to one titled "Sasori's replacement." Pointing forcefully at the title several times, he rounded on Kabuto again: "If you decided to come in after Sasori's death, why would you prepare an entry for Sasori's replacement?"

Kabuto was stunned. He had no answer for that. His silence did not go unnoticed. Fuzen gritted his teeth and barked "You wouldn't! That's how I know that you were still plotting our destruction." His eyes narrowed.

Kabuto flew backwards. He sped through wall after wall of the compound. He landed hard on the ground outside. He scrambled to his feet just in time to see the facility torn apart by a massive explosion. He turned and ran. After about ten feet, he was stopped. An invisible force had taken hold of him. He was lifted off the ground and turned 180 degrees to face an approaching Fuzen.

Kabuto struggled futilely to escape. Was it ninjutsu or genjutsu? It was probably genjutsu. But since its user was the most powerful shinobi alive, it was bound to be at a level far above any that he could dispel.

"This," Fuzen said, "Is what happens to those who betray Akatsuki."

Kabuto closed his eyes.

_A few hours later_

They saw the rubble when they reached the top of the hill. Sasuke sped up. The others followed closely behind.

"Shit," Sasuke cursed when he reached the body.

"Damn," Suigetsu commented when he caught up, "That must have hurt like a mother."

Kabuto's corpse was a bloodied mess. It had been sliced into by dozens of razor-sharp, disk-shaped crystals. Judging by his facial expression, the sound ninja hadn't died immediately. He must have bleed to death for hours.

"Great," Karin pouted, "Now what are we gonna do?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and announced "It's time for plan B."

_Four Days later and many miles away_

The tallest mountain in the Country of Lightning is Mount Suzteki. Its base is shrouded by a vast woodlands region while its top is covered in red clay and large boulders. Very few dare to test its treacherously sharp declines. But on this day, a lone figure was slowing making his way down the mountain's south side.

The young man crouched down and paused to listen. There was nothing. He wiped the sweat from his brow and quietly slipped behind a large patch of shrubbery wedged between two large boulders. "Where is he?" he yelled in his mind. Where was his boss? This was his last job. After this, he could finally go home. Hell, he had to go home. He had cut it way too close this time. A few moments longer and he would have been found out. In fact, he still might be in danger. "That's right," he thought, "They could still be after me! They could have found me out and formed a search party!"

He started to run. But, he stopped when he felt a hand gently clasp his shoulder. He turned to face his friend. "Thank God it's you," he breathed.

His comrade was an older man. The lines in his face were a testament to this. Despite his age, this man was one of the most capable ninjas alive. Now that they were together, the younger man's fears slipped away. "Shall I report here?" he asked.

The old man adjusted his headband and indicated a large boulder nearby. As they walked, he gently patted his protégé on the back. "You've done well Torajikku," he said, "Your intelligence reports have lead to the spread of information on Akatsuki to all the countries in the Shinobi World. Now, you can return to Konoha and retire."

"Thank you Jiraiya-sama," Torajikku replied, "Okay, where to start? Well, you should know that Akatsuki has altered its plans."

"Altered?" Jiraiya asked, "Why would they?"

"In the past few months they have lost three of their members at the hands of Konoha shinobi. And now that all the other shinobi villages have been informed of the threat this organization poses, they feel that their current methods must be abandoned in favor of more practical ones."

"Is their endgame the same?"

"It appears to be. But as I've said before, 'World Domination' is a very general goal. There are many ways to go about it. All I have are a few pieces."

Torajikku hung his head in failure. He kicked a small pebble to the side before continuing. "And by few pieces, I mean that I haven't been able to uncover much. They've been extremely secretive. All I know is that they have been recruiting new members and are planning attacks on some of the major Shinobi villages. In fact, an attack on the Hidden Sand Village will take place sometime in the next three days."

"Have you been able to ascertain the identities of the new members?"

"A few, yes. I have compiled a short list of names." Torajikku reached into his robes and pulled out a small piece of rolled up parchment. Jiraiya immediately pocketed it. Torajikku glanced up the hill nervously and asked "So should we…"

Jiraiya slapped his hand over his former student's mouth. "Listen," he whispered into the young man's ear. Torajikku nodded and tried to concentrate. It was then that he felt the presence of a very dangerous man.

"Let's go," the Sannin ordered. He crouched down low and broke off in a run. Torajikku, however, reacted too slowly.

"Water Element: Geyser Snare"

The ground under Torajikku's feet opened up. The young man sank into it. An invisible force held him in place below the surface. Around him, the earth shook violently from built up chakra. It erupted, engulfing him in chakra-infused steam. The release of chakra launched him through the air. His head smashed into the edge of a boulder. His neck snapped with a stomach-churning sound and he crumpled to the ground dead.

"Water Element: Aquatic Shockwave"

Water flooded the steep hillside leveling trees and creating a number of mudslides. Riding a wave in the center of the destruction was Akatsuki's Hoshigaki Kisame.

"Where is that old geezer?" the shark-like man wondered aloud as he surveyed his handiwork. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. It was moving hastily in the southeastern direction. He leapt off the wave and ran atop the flowing water. He reached back over his shoulder and took hold of his massive sword Samehada. Within seconds, he had caught up. He leapt forward and swung his sword.

"Ka Chink"

Kisame's sword was met by a rather large blade held in two hands by a giant frog wearing Samurai attire. Kisame screamed in outrage.

The ruse had worked as soon as he saw Kisame veer off after his summoned frog-nin; Jiraiya crawled out from under the rock he'd used for cover. He stepped out onto the water and ran southwest. Shortly after reaching the base of the mountain, he heard footsteps. He paused and listened intently. There were three, no four people rapidly approaching. He diverted from his original trajectory and starting moving due south. He leapt through some bushes and came upon a turning point in the river that ran north to south through the Country of Lightning. He ran along a stone wall until he reached the end. He turned the corner and came to a halt inches away from a younger man's face. He gasped as he looked into the man's eyes and saw the "Sharingan"…


	6. Those Who Bring Darkness

_A Month Ago_ (flashback)

_Akuma Fuzen was standing on the highest peak of Mount Suzteki when he got the news._

_"It's been confirmed Fuzen-san," Zetsu announced as he emerged from the earth, "Both Kakuzu and Hidan have been killed by shinobi from Konoha."_

_"Their remains?" Fuzen asked._

_"Hidan's body is inaccessible and the Hokage is performing an autopsy on Kakuzu. His possessions are most likely being kept in the village somewhere."_

_Fuzen gazed up into the sky and silently mourned the loss of his men. After observing a few moments of silence, he turned to face Zetsu. "Well, my old friend," he said, "It appears the time has come to execute the option we discussed."_

_He formed a number of hand seals. "Appear," he ordered. Within moments, fuzzy projections of his second in command, Deidara, Tobi, Kisame, and Uchiha Itachi appeared._

_"Hey boss," Tobi said cheerfully with a mock salute, "Can we keep this meeting short? I've gotta use the bathroom."_

_"What?" screeched Deidara angrily, "You moron! How dare you be so inconsiderate of us and the importance of our meetings?"_

_"Calm down Deidara," Fuzen said calmly, "And as for you, Tobi, he's right. Hold it."_

_Tobi grumbled clearly unsatisfied. With that minor annoyance dealt with, the Akatsuki Leader opened the meeting. "As you all may or may not know, Kakuzu and Hidan are dead. That makes three dead members in a short amount of time. We cannot continue as we have been. Now that all the hidden villages know about our operations, they are all going to try their best to stop us. So, in order to clear the way to obtaining the remaining tailed-beasts, we have to weaken the Hidden Leaf, Cloud, Rock, and Sand villages with pre-emptive strikes."_

_"What about the Hidden Mist Village?" Tobi interrupted._

_They won't be a problem," Kisame replied with a malicious smile._

_"Are you sure? I don't know if you we should put so much trust in your promises."_

_"What?" Kisame screamed, "I'm going to kill you, you stupid kid!"_

_"Now you know how I feel," Deidara quipped._

_"That's enough!" Fuzen ordered, allowing his voice to rise. "Tobi if you want this meeting to end, stop antagonizing everyone!"_

_Tobi fell silent. Fuzen paused for questions. When he heard none, he continued, "The attacks I mentioned will require new members. So, we will be accelerating our recruitment over the next few weeks. This will be our first priority. I want each of you to compose a list of possible candidates, including why they should be considered, and have it to me by noon tomorrow. After that, we will narrow the list down and make offers."_

_"How does this affect our time table?" Itachi inquired._

_"Not by much, I still see us ruling the world in less than five years."_

end flashback

Once again, Fuzen admired the stars. He felt confident about the work ahead. Much had been done since the last meeting. They had recruited twelve new members. All of the shinobi worthy of membership had been offered it. With the most able ninjas at his disposal, he was finally in a position to enforce his will on the world. However, the joy he felt from this would prove fleeting.

Zetsu's head breached the soil behind Fuzen. The rest of his body followed suit. "Fuzen-san," he said, "We have yet to capture Jiraiya. Itachi, Kisame, and Beris are still chasing him."

More bad news. The Akatsuki Leader scowled. "Tell Itachi and Kisame to break off and prepare for another meeting. I want you to take Beris and find the Sannin before he leaves the country. You should, after all, be more than enough for him."

"As you wish," Zetsu said as he sank into the ground out of sight. Fuzen cursed and walked over to a small cave twenty feet away. Making his way down the windy, narrow path that led into the deepest parts of his base, he felt his anger boiling over. He found his blue-haired lieutenant in the room that played host to the bijuu-containing statue on which they often held their meetings. He was tempted to rake her over the coals for her failure to keep tabs on Torajikku. The traitor had, after all, been her subordinate. But, he had to remember that it had been his decision to assign Torajikku to her.

"Any news?" she asked as she crossed the room to be at his side.

"Yes," he said gritting his teeth, "But it is of no consequence. There isn't a man alive that can stand against us now. In time, Jiraiya and those like him will learn the futility of their actions."

"Not if we delay implementing our plan. I think it's time to call the others." She quickly performed Fuzen's projection technique.

Fifteen chakra projections filled the room. The only ones missing were, of course, Beris and Zetsu. Fuzen stretched out his arms and levitated above them. "Ryo, Lauves you both have prior assignments. Continue your work. There is no need for you to be here."

Two of the projections phased out. Fuzen gathered chakra in the palm of his left hand. In his right, he formed a series of one-hand seals. When he was done, he lightly tossed a sphere of chakra into the air. It stopped a few feet in front of him and hung in the air above the congregation. It shimmered and formed a virtual image of Suna, the Hidden Sand Village.

"After much consideration," he announced, "It has been decided that Suna is the weakest of the five major villages and little would be gained from conquering it. As a result, Deidara and Tobi's mission is to completely destroy the village. And, where are we on that?" He turned to face the pair. He half expected Tobi to complain about his bladder again. But, this time, the young man remained silent.

"We are two days away from Suna, yeah," Deidara said.

"Good. I must, however, warn you that we recently disposed of a traitor. There is a possibility that they will be expecting you. So, take your time and be careful. As long as the village is reduced to rubble, the amount of time you spend doesn't matter."

"Not to worry, our jutsu create destruction on a massive scale, yeah. Any preparation will be inadequate against my art."

"Don't be cocky Deidara. You don't know what they are planning or who might have been sent to aide them. Although, we killed Torajikku, it remains unclear how much information has been leaked."

"Heh, you worry too much, yeah. Deidara out." He vanished. Tobi lingered uncertain of what to do. But, he also vanished moments later.

Fuzen shook his head. He didn't want to lose two more members but, that's exactly what would happen if they didn't heed his warnings. "No matter," he said aloud, "Next village."

The chakra ball became active once again and altered itself to show a representation of Konoha. "There will be three people attacking Konoha: Dross, Cino, and Sajek." Fuzen allowed himself to admire Dross. A former ANBU captain for Suna, she was an attractive woman. She was slim, pale, and a brunette. She was also rumored to be a bit of a hothead, which made her anything but available for romance. "What a pity," he thought inwardly before continuing the presentation.

"Your objectives are as follows: 1) Recovering Kakuzu's ring so they can't realize its importance, 2) Capturing the five-tails Jinchuriki, and 3) Capturing the 9-tails Jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto."

"I thought the identity of the five-tails host was unknown?" Itachi said puzzled.

"It is. All we know is it's a young girl about fifteen years of age."

Dross, Cino, and Sajek nodded in acknowledgement and left.

"The Hidden Rock Village," Fuzen continued as the sphere morphed once again.

_Several Miles away_

Two birds flew into the sky from the old man's outstretched arms. As they cleared the tree line, he broke into a run. He got on an old dirt road leading to the Old Cinrouse Mill. When he got there, he opened the door to the supply shed and slipped in.

_Several miles away_

Standing on the highest branch of the tree, Zetsu looked down at the dark-skinned man knelt down in concentration. "Well," he asked, "What did you see?"

Beris opened his yellow eyes and said, "Ten degrees south of west. About 15.2 miles near the old mill."

"Good let's go."

_Several Hours later_

Tsunade awoke with a start. Shizune had rushed into her office panic-stricken. "Tsunade-sama," her attendant exclaimed as she approached the Hokage's desk, "We just got this letter from Jiraiya-sama!"

Tsunade rubbed her eyes. She glanced at the clock on her desk. She had been asleep for two hours. She yawned and looked at Shizune with a glazed over, confused look. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Shizune slapped a scroll on the desk. "We just got this from Jiraiya."

Tsunade snatched it up and read earnestly. After a few seconds, she dropped the parchment and ordered "Inform the ANBU, it's time to carry out 'Operation: Badger'."

_Across Town_

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The blond teenager's eyes flew open. Still a little groggy, he sat up in bed. Standing around him were four masked and heavily cloaked ANBU members.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the closest one repeated, "Come with us. It is time for you to leave the village."


	7. The Kazekage's Dilemma

Interrogation rooms are not designed for comfort. He was reminded of this by the sweat that beaded on his forehead and dropped to the floor at a painfully high frequency. He shifted his position on the stool that served as the dark room's sole piece of furniture. Above him were a lone light bulb and a cord that hung from its side. This knowledge did him little good. His hands were handcuffed behind him and the room was so dark that he couldn't make out the bulb's exact location.

He prayed his family would understand. Though criminal, his acts had been in the best interests of the village. In time, they would see that. In time, everyone would see it.

On the other side of the door stood Baki. In his right hand, he held a folder containing all the necessary documents for this proceeding. He nodded sternly at the guard and opened the door. After a few steps, he reached up and turned on the overhead light.

"Stand up," he ordered.

The detainee slid off his stool. Baki grabbed the stool and pulled it toward him until it was halfway between them.

"I hope you know the seriousness of the charges against you," he said as stared the young blonde down. When the prisoner remained silent, he continued. "The village receives dozens of messages a week through the messenger bird system. Those that are of the utmost importance are often encrypted and must be decoded by a specialist, like you. Once that's done, they are passed onto a member of the council. This is simply the way of things. It has been so since the village's creation."

The freckled faced prisoner hung his head but, offered no response.

"Nothing to say have we? That's fine. You don't have to tell me whether you are innocent because I already know you did it." He reached into his folder and pulled out three pieces of parchment. "These," he said slapping them down on the stool, are sworn statements by three of the other shinobi at the Sunagakure Message Center. According to their testimonies, you receive a coded message two hours ago and decoded it. I also have…"

He reached into his folder for another piece of paper and laid it on the stool.

"This is a statement signed by all the members of the council that states that none of them were delivered the message in question. In short, you, Inkan, were the last to see the letter."

Inkan swallowed hard and his attention darted quickly to Baki before returning to the floor. He was cornered. There was no denying his guilt. The only hope left for him laid in the fact that the council hadn't gotten the document.

"Where is it?" Baki asked as though he was telepathic, "We've searched your office and your apartment, and your family is being questioned as we speak."

Inkan's eyes grew as large as saucers. "My…my family," he stammered, "They, uh, they had nothing to do with this and…they, um, don't know anything."

"Well you can save them the trouble by coming clean now." Baki leaned in close to the young chunin and tried his best to sound sympathetic and understanding. "Why are you doing this? You are a valuable member of this village and you have friends and a family that loves you. Also, seeing as you were the one who sent the encoded message to Konoha asking for aid in recovering the Kazekage, I know that you're no traitor. So, please tell me why? Make me understand."

Inkan's face dropped momentarily when the village leader was mentioned. Otherwise, he appeared unmoved by the Jounin's speech. He continued to stare at his feet as though intrigued by the rudimentary buckles that kept his shoes fastened.

Baki pulled himself away and stood glowering. It was times like these that he wished his village didn't make interrogation resistance part of their standard academy training. He hate that it had come to his, but it was time for him to resort to cruder methods. He turned around and opened the door. Two Suna ANBU members shuffled in. The man on the left performed a number of hand seals.  
"Time Reversal Technique"

Inkan slumped over. Baki breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the prisoner was hypothesized, he would finally be able to get some answers. "Okay," he said, "Let's try this again. Where is the letter?"

_Many miles away_

Naruto's ANBU escort finally stopped to rest in a cave just inside of the Earth Country. They had been running for six and a half hours in complete silence. When he had tried to ask for information, he was harshly told to be quiet. As he looked from masked figure to masked figure, he felt the anger build up inside him. What was this about? He hadn't done anything wrong, but they were treating him like a criminal. The only possibility that occurred to him was he had been deemed an unacceptable risk due to his existence as the container of the Nine-tailed fox. But, that didn't make sense. A few years ago, maybe. But not now. He had proved his worth several times. Or had he? He now wondered if the villagers realized that he had saved them from Shukaku and helped defeat an Akatsuki member who once fought the First Hokage. And if they did, did that mean nothing? Would his accomplishments always be overshadowed by his affiliation with the demon sealed in him at birth? He closed his eyes and remembered.

flashback

_Naruto didn't even hear Iruka's screams of protest. His attention was on Mizuki and the rule that he had been forbidden to know. What could be so important that a rule had been created that only he could not learn of?_

_Mizuki's face lit up in a haughty sneer. "It's the rule not to say that Naruto is a monster fox. In other words, you are the nine-tailed demon fox who killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village. You've been deceived by the village people all this time. Didn't you think it was weird for everyone to hate you so much?"_

end flashback

"Naruto"

The blonde shinobi looked up and gasped when the ANBU captain removed his mask.

"Captain Yamato?"

Yamato smiled and nodded to the rest of his team. In turn, they removed their masks to reveal the smiling faces of Inuzuba Kiba, Hyuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Well, that's to say that Kiba and Hinata were smiling while Shino maintained his vintage serious demeanor.

Naruto's frustration and resentment over being kept in the dark deteriorated. It was replaced by pure confusion.

"Captain Yamato," he asked, "If I'm going on a mission with my friends, then why would they disguise themselves from me?"

"Because," Yamato said with a sympathetic smile, "This is not a standard mission. We have reason to believe that Akatsuki is making another attempt on you so, we've decided to move you for the time being."

"But, that doesn't answer my question! Having everyone disguised but me doesn't help. If they stop me, it won't matter what the others are wearing!"

"Akatsuki?" Hinata gasped aloud. She had heard of them in passing, and knew enough to recognize that they were a powerful threat. But why, she wondered, were they after Naruto-kun? She stared at the ANBU captain and prayed that he'd tell them more.

Yamato ignored Hinata's brief outburst as he calmly tried to explain the situation, "I'm aware of that Naruto. That's why you will be disguised from here on out."

"I will? But why?"

Yamato raised an eyebrow. Geez, he thought, this kid wasn't too bright. "Okay. I guess I'll have to explain that as well. Suppose Akatsuki saw us leave. Then they'd be looking for a group of ANBU escorting you. So, if we remove our disguises, you disguise yourself, and they still find us, they'll see what appears to be a completely different team."

Naruto scratched his head. "Say what?"

"There would appear to be two teams," Shino explained.

"Oh two teams!" Naruto said with a sheepish smile, "Why didn't you just say that?"

"I did," Yamato said with a minor hint of annoyance, "Now hurry up and put this on." He tossed his black robes and mask to the genin. The latter started to change while the members of Team Eight packed their disguises in their backpacks.

"Kiba-kun," Hinata said softly as she swung her backpack over her shoulders, "Shouldn't you bring Akamaru out?"

"Oh yeah," Kiba said in disbelief at his own absent-mindedness. He pulled out a large scroll and spread it flat on the ground. He performed some hand seals and placed his right palm on the parchment. Most of the text glowed and disappeared. There was a puff of smoke and his large white dog appeared. "Yahoo!" he exclaimed leaping on his companion's back. He grinned excitedly and proclaimed, "All right! Let's roll out!"

_Cinrouse Mill_

Zetsu and Beris slowly walked into the clearing. The mill consisted primarily of three buildings, each one responsible for a separate phase of the production of textiles. Sitting beside the east building was a run down wooden structure that had originally housed the entire operation until the merchant Cinrouse bought it out and expanded it. Now, the old structure served as a supply unit.

"Is he still there?" Zetsu asked his lanky associate. Beris performed the necessary hand seals.

"Nightmare Vision Technique"

The long, jagged scar that ran diagonal to his right eye darkened and his pupils became white, making them virtually indistinguishable from the whites of his eyes. He closed his eyes and focused. He saw the area around him as though through the eyes of a stranger. He set his sights on the supply shed and flew towards it in his mind's eye. He passed through the walls quickly and came to a stop mere feet from Jiraiya. The Frog Hermit was sitting on a sack of feed, looking at a map he had laid upon an old shipping crate.

In the waking world, Beris opened his eyes, which had returned to normal again. He smiled widely as he prepared his attack.

"Decimation Technique"

The shack exploded from within leaving nothing but dust and rubble. "So," he said haughtily, "Even the legendary Sannin can't avoid detection. To think that…"

He stopped mid-sentence when the dust cleared to reveal no human remains. He frowned and looked again.

"Nightmare Vision"

Flying through this sub-reality, he was able to cover dozens of square miles in minutes. Fortunately, he didn't have to look far. "There" he said aloud as he saw the old man racing toward the docks two miles south on the river.

Beris opened his eyes. "This way," he said as he started to run once again.

_Sand Village_

Baki hurried up the council stairs at top speed. The information he had obtained from Inkan had made everything make sense. There were few who head the influence necessary to keep the message center quiet. Also, one of them had been absent from the meeting that morning: the Kazekage himself. But why? Why would Gaara classify a message as "for his eyes only"?

Baki's apprehension had reached its zenith when he reached his former student's office. Outside were two of the Kazekage's bodyguards. When he moved to open the door, he found his way blocked. "Great," he thought, "Even his office has been classified."

"Gaara," he called out, "Whatever it is let me help. Your silence does nothing but further alienate the council. You may not trust many but I, as your former sensei, should be..."

The door slid open and the two guards stepped aside. In the doorway stood Temari. She gestured for him to enter. Inside, Gaara sat behind his desk with Kankuro standing at his side. They appeared to be analyzing a large diagram of the village. Closing the door behind him, he took a seat beside Temari.

"Gaara," he began, "As you know, the council's faith in your ability to lead has dwindled in light of your loss of the Sand Spirit Shukaku. There has even been talk of electing a Sixth Kazekage and having you serve under him as second in command. Now, I've done all I can on your behalf but I'm not sure if I can do much more if you withhold information."

Gaara's expression remained as stoic as ever. "The council will be brought up to speed by this time tomorrow," he said plainly, "But…I see no harm in telling you." He nodded to Kankuro.

The elder brother lifted up the map and, from under it, pulled out another piece of parchment.

"This," he said, "Is a letter from the Sannin Jiraiya. It was sent to notify us that a pair of Akatsuki operatives is on its way to the village. They should be here soon and their goal is the complete destruction of the village. While the letter does not tell us who the attackers will be, it does warn us that the one Gaara fought before is alive. So, it is likely that he was one of the two sent."

"If that's so," Baki nervously interjected, "Gaara might not be able to stop them."

"He can if that man never reaches the village," Temari pointed out," if Gaara can meet him in the desert, he will win."

"But what of the other Akatsuki?" Baki protested.

No one said anything. Gaara's gray eyes shifted over to his brother. Looking embarrassed, Kankuro said "That's the dilemma we face now."

"You mean the problem of how Gaara is to fight two at once?"

"No, the dilemma of how to sell it to the council. You see, there's an additional part of the letter…someone has been sent to help Gaara in the fight."

Something clicked in Baki's mind. He finally understood why they had conspired to take the letter. They didn't want the council to have the chance to protest or even try to override Gaara's decision. In addition, the siblings were hesitant to hand the letter over because of the foreign aid. If Gaara were to be victorious, his role in the fight would be diminished and the victory accredited to the person who came to help.

He and Temari jumped as a young Jounin strolled in. "Giore," Kankuro snarled. Giore was the eldest son of Covane, the councilman that led the opposition to Gaara. On many occasions, he had brought up the possibility of having Giore run the village. So, he wasn't surprised when Giore made his announcement.

"Gaara, the council has decided to make me the Rokudaime Kazekage. As is written in our laws, you can either step down voluntarily or fight me for your position. If you choose the latter, meet me at the council chambers tomorrow night at six. You have until then to get your affairs in order." He smirked and ran his fingers longingly over the desk. With a slight laugh he said, "Damn I could get used to this!" He turned on his heels and walked back out.

Kankuro ran up and slammed the door shut. "Damn that arrogant little prick!"

Temari shook involuntarily and sank back in her seat. "What are we going to do now?" She looked expectedly at her little red-headed brother. But, it was Baki who spoke first.

"Gaara," he began, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course," the Kazekage said after a brief pause.

"Let me take the letter. I'll have our young friend Inkan create a forged copy of it that would exclude the part about help from an outside shinobi."

Kankuro smiled widely and clapped his old sensei on the back. Gaara also came to life. He stood up and began briskly pacing the room.

"Temari, I want you and an ANBU squad to go to Konoha. There, you will represent our interests and provide whatever assistance they require until further notice. As for you, Kankuro, we have much to discuss."


	8. Storm Clouds

The robin kicked off from the window sill and soared through the air. Gracefully flapping its wings, the bird flew over the heart of the village. After passing by the Raikage's tower, it turned seventy degrees and sped up. Outside the city walls it slowly descended as it glided over a dirt trail leading down the mountain.

Minutes later, the gray bird stopped to rest on a tree branch overlooking a small field. Curiously, it pecked the leg of a large man wearing a black robe with red clouds.

"That you Tenoa?" the man asked without even bothering to turn around. A thin layer of blue chakra surrounded the bird. It took a few steps back and lowered its head. The chakra dissipated as the robin slowly grew and morphed into a slender middle-aged man with light blond hair and pale blue eyes. He was dressed in navy blue pants and shirt with a leather vest over his chest. Upon his crown was a forehead protector with an engraved image of two clouds; the symbol of the Hidden Cloud Village.

"You should be more careful Kunou," Tenoa chuckled, "You're lucky it's me and not another member of the Sylva clan."

Kunou turned around. He was 6' 6" and weighed about 300 pounds of pure muscle. His hair was jet black and running from his ears, across both cheeks, to his mouth were a pair of long, jagged scars. Tenoa didn't know much about the missing nin from the Hidden Rock Village, but he had the impression that Kunou was a Taijutsu specialist.

"Another member of the Sylva clan wouldn't approach me without backup," Kunou countered.

"You're probably right. You know, I think that the…"

"So were you successful?" a voice above them asked. They glanced up in time to see a man standing on a tree branch twenty feet above them. He was wearing the standard Akatsuki robes and large conical straw hat decorated with bells. Over his face was an iron mask depicting the face of a generic looking human male.

Tenoa shuddered. Just being around this guy made him nervous. Not only was nothing known about him but he had the distinction of being the only apprentice Akuma Fuzen had ever taken. Partially fearing for his life, he decided to cut the small talk.

"Yes Sheol, the documents have been forged. And as for Digia, I was able to convince him that this is the best way from him to come on the way to his mission. So, he should be here in a few hours."

"Good. Now I suggest you leave. Our success depends on you staying out of sight."

_Elsewhere in the Land of Lightning_

"Decimation"

Beris had to duck as debris from the sailboat nearly impacted on his skull. Beside him on the dock and crouching down as well was Zetsu. They stood up in time to see two kunai emerge from the flames and fly toward them. The blades dug into one of the dock's planks. The two Akatsuki members leapt back as the exploding tags on the kunai detonated ripping the middle of the dock apart and setting the rest on fire. They landed on the water a few feet away.

"I thought it was you Beris," said a voice from beyond the rapidly sinking sailboat.

"Jiraiya," Beris called, "You've heard of me. I'm honored."

"Of course," the frog hermit said stepping through the flames that now encompassed all of the ships that had been docked. "I wouldn't be much of a shinobi if I hadn't heard of the best bounty hunter in the world. Your tracking abilities are rumored to be undefeatable. It's no wonder Akatsuki recruited you."

"So when did you know it was me?"

"Well I suspected it when Uchiha Itachi stopped chasing me. The only reason he would do that was if someone better at tracking was going to take over. So, I tested my theory by leaving shadow clones in insignificant locations: the small supply shed of a large complex and one boat among dozens. When you blew them up, I know that my pursuer had seen my clones from a great distance away. Since even the most powerful of the Hyuuga clan can't see that far, I knew it had to be you."

Beris rolled up the right sleeve of his robes to reveal an iron bracer around his forearm. He placed his left index and middle fingers on the bracer. From its top shot out three curved claw-like blades.

"Yeah," he laughed, "But I don't have to look anymore!"

He took off across the water with his weapon posed to strike.

"No! You fool!" Zetsu yelled after him.

Beris ignored his superior and swung his weapon. Jiraiya jumped back but not before the claws tore through his shirt exposing the six exploding tags attached to his chest.

"Shit!" Beris screamed as all six caught fire.

_The Land of Earth_

Muddy fingers slid across the wet stone searching for and eventually finding a small crevice. The fingers forced their way in and the palm clasped around the edge. Yamato sighed as he prepared himself for action. With a great heave, he swung himself over the edge and onto the top of the massive cliff. He felt a stabbing pain in his left knee as he slowly stood up straight. Instinctively, he clasped his left hand over his knee and rubbed it vigorously until the pain diminished.

He slowly limped over to the first tree he could find and leaned against it. _Tiger, boar, serpent, hare_ he thought to himself as he formed a number of hand seals.

"Nature Retraction Technique"

Within seconds three humanoid forms emerged from the tree. They solidified into three duplicates of Yamato. The one on the right smiled and reported, "The primary path is clear."

Yamato glanced at the other two clones. "Any sign of enemy pursuers?" he asked. They shook their heads slowly. "Alright keep scouting the surrounding area."

All three walked back into the tree and disappeared from view. Yamato clicked a button on his mobile radio.

"All clear," he said in a tone that reflected both his weariness and his relief. He glanced back at the cliff in time to see a giant bee flying over the threshold. It set down softly and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"What the hell?!" Naruto screamed, "Why didn't this go away when the insect left?"

The smoke cleared to reveal Hinata, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and the loud-mouthed blonde boy. They were all covered in thick light brown honey.

"Why did it have to be a bee," Naruto whined as he rolled around on the ground trying to get the sticky material off of him. "Not only did we have to pick the creepiest way to travel but we had to hide in a small space filled with this shit!"

"Naruto," Shino said narrowing his eyes, "It is hurtful to your comrade when you insult him, especially when the said person has given you much needed aid."

Naruto continued to pout as he gave up on cleaning his clothes off. "Hurtful? Comrade? Why do you always talk like that?"

Shino was about to answer when he heard a small voice from the kunoichi beside him.

"Um, Naruto-kun, I think you should really thank Shino-kun."

"Huh?" Naruto exclaimed leaning toward her to hear better, "Did you say something Hinata?"

Hinata's face flushed. She bridged her index fingers and twiddled them in her normal nervous quirk.

Yamato smiled. _Man_, the thought to himself, _that Naruto sure is clueless._ He slowly walked up to them and said, "Okay guys, enough chit chat. We need to get going before we're spotted."

Naruto threw Shino a sour look before running ahead to walk along-side Kiba and Akamaru. Shino followed suit, leaving Hinata and Yamato to take up the rear. As they walked, Yamato caught her staring after Naruto longingly. When the Hyuuga heiress noticed her leader was looking at her, she blushed again and looked down at her feet. It was as if he'd caught her trying to sneak into the house after curfew. He smiled and stared straight ahead as they made their way up a steep, rocky incline that had been made slippery by the morning rain. Once they had reached the top, they could see the Hidden Rock Village at the base of the canyon on which they stood.

The village was massive. It was nearly twice the size of Konoha and took up nearly two thirds of the canyon. As expected by the name and its location, the vast majority of the buildings had been constructed with stone; granite, marble and limestone primarily. Equal distances apart, three watch towers loomed above the village walls which enclosed its occupants in a circle. The residential areas appeared to be in the center of the village while the police headquarters, ninja academy, and other places that were stationed by shinobi were closer to the walls. It was a logical design, reflecting the need for a village to protect its citizens in the event of an attack.

Yamato glanced from the scene below to Hinata. He had to suppress a smile when he saw her attention was focused on Naruto once again. "Okay," he said suddenly, "Shino, you and Kiba take Naruto down to the village's main gates. Be sure to give the guards these."

He reached into a pouch on his leather vest and pulled out a number of papers that had been neatly folded. They would give the authorities all the information they needed. He gave them to the tall boy with sunglasses and a hooded coat before adding, "Hinata and I will catch up shortly. We need to be sure that we haven't been followed."

The three boys nodded in silent agreement. With Kiba in the lead, they walked around the canyon's perimeter to the opposite side where an artificial path led down to the canyon floor.

"Um, where do you want me to look?" Hinata asked after a few moments.

"Nowhere," the ANBU captain smiled, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

Hinata's expression was one of shock. He wasn't sure whether it was because she was confused by his deception or if it was because she wasn't accustomed to people being interesting in having a deep conversation with her. "What about?"

"Naruto."

Her face fell and turned pink for the third time that day.

He smiled sympathetically. "I can tell you care about him. But you don't appear to have the self-confidence to share those feelings. Am I right?"

The dark haired kunoichi still didn't look at him. She merely nodded.

"I can also tell that you are very kind. You have a very caring personality. That much is clear from the way you carry yourself and your desire for none of you teammates to quarrel as Shino and Naruto were earlier.

Hinata smiled, but continue to stare at her feet. "Thank you."

"The problem is Naruto hasn't had much of a chance to see that. Because you are so unsure of yourself that you can't talk to him much, it is very easy for him to overlook your finest qualities. If you want him to know how you feel; if you want to see if he could ever love you back; you have to overcome your greatest flaw: your own insecurities."

"But if I do, what happens if he doesn't return my affections?"

"Then at least you'll know. And you'll be able to move on. As things stand now, you'll never be able to pursue other paths, other people unless you have some form of closure where Naruto is concerned."

Hinata looked up at him and asked, "Why are you trying to help?"

Yamato was momentarily taken aback by her very simple question. After a brief pause he answered, "Because after everything Naruto has been through he deserves to find love in a gentle, loving woman. And you deserve a man who will treat you well. I don't think there are many men that are as pure of heart as he."

_Several hours, and many miles away_

"Finally," Kunou grumbled when the Cloud Jounin and his group of genin entered the small field. The Jounin had a slender build and a triangular shaped head with narrow, green eyes. It was obviously by looking at the man that he had a distinctly snake like appearance.

"The eight-tailed Jinchuriki Digia. I hope his reputation is well deserved. Otherwise this won't be nearly as much fun."

"Just remember," Sheol's voice sounded from above him, "Just get him to fully tap into Orochi's (the eight tailed demon snake) powers. I will handle the rest."

"Yeah, yeah"

Kunou jumped off his tree branch and landed fifty meters in front of his target. He tightened his grip on the pair of giant shuriken he held in each arm and grinned with excitement.

"Behind me," Digia ordered to his students when he recognized the Akatsuki robes the newcomer wore.

"Storm Shelter"

Dozens of electrical surges sprung from the ground around the three twelve year old boys and interlocked forming an intricate, barred dome of lightning.

"Good," Kunou yelled, "Let's start this!"

He took a step forward and launched the large projectile in his left hand. Digia bent his knees and jumped right over it. While in midair, he saw that the Akatsuki had sent the second shuriken at his head. He arched his back as the steel weapon passed mere inches above his nose.

He completed a back flip and landed safely on the ground. He had just gotten his balance when a large fist caught him square on the chin. He was lifted several feet into the air and landed with a thud on the other side of the barrier he had just created.

His hands flew as he performed a half dozen hand seals in less than a second.

"Fire Serpent"

Digia exhaled a long stream of fire that took the form of a long slender snake. It twisted around viciously in the air before landing on the ground and racing toward the hulking giant.

Kunou was shocked by its speed but managed to react in time. Just as the serpent's mouth lunged for his foot, he jumped. He had almost cleared the fire elemental when its tail morphed into a second mouth. His eyes widened as a ball of fire flew upward and engulfed him.

Digia scrambled to his feet. "Collapse" he instructed forming a tiger seal. The fire serpent dissolved into a larger sphere of flames that completely surrounded the first. It doubled in intensity and quickly dissipated.

_But,_ he thought as the smoke cleared, _It wasn't enough._ Singed but very much alive was Kunou. The S-ranked criminal gritted his teeth in pain. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His body quacked violently. His eyes flew open as he let out a feral scream. The muscles on his arms and legs bulged out of burnt cloak, tearing it apart. He glared savagely at the Cloud shinobi.

Digia slipped into a defensive stance as he carefully watched his opponent, trying to pick up some hint of how he would move.

Kunou burst forward and blurred out sight. He appeared a split second later as he smashed his right fist into Digia's side. Before the latter could react, Kunou landed a devastating left hook that crushed his enemy's nose.

Digia stumbled back in pain. Kunou grabbed him by the arm and barreled his right fist into the helpless man's stomach. Blood oozed out from Digia's mouth. Gasping for air, the Jinchuriki doubled over. But Kunou wasn't done. He grabbed the smaller man by the scruff of the neck and threw him a good thirty feet.

Digia rolled into a sitting position. _What the hell is this guy_, he wondered. _Third degree burns should have weakened him much less made him stronger._ He slowly got to his feet and turned to face the gloating mountain of a man before him. He wiped the blood out of his eyes and smiled, "I guess it can't be helped."

He clasped his hands together and the ground underneath him tore apart as green chakra flowed out of his body and wrapped itself around him. His skin darkened into a series of green and black bands. His green eyes narrowed even further and turned scarlet. Behind him, Orochi's chakra took the form of a long, very snake like tail.

Digia could feel the legendary snake's chakra rapidly healing his multiple injuries. Once the damage had been adequately repaired, he dragged his foot across the ground and kicked off.

He crossed the distance between them quickly and jumped, aiming his right foot at Kunou's head. Kunou threw his hand up and blocked the kick. Digia lunged back and aimed his left toes at the big man's chin. The Akatsuki ducked under the thrust and swung his fist at the Cloud-nin.

Digia caught the fist and gave it a tug when he landed on the ground. The force pulled Kunou toward him. Now with an opening he leapt up and bashed the side of his foot into Kunou's face.

The former Rock-nin stumbled slightly but seemed otherwise unaffected. He simply grinned and jumped back to put some distance between them. He flew through some hand seals of his own.

"Devil's Eye"

The scars on the side of his face opened as blood leaked down his face. His eyes went completely black and scores of small cuts opened on his arms and legs. He licked some of the blood that had dripped down to his mouth and winked at Digia. Then, without warning, he vanished.

At the last moment, Digia was able to catch a glimpse of him and sidestepped what would have been a very painful blow. He quickly grabbed Kunou's arm with his left hand and swung violently with his right. Kunou effortlessly blocked the attack and spun around backhanding the stunned Jinchuriki. The force sent the latter through the air.

Kunou disappeared again. He reappeared behind Digia, who was still falling backward. Digia sensed his presence and spun around the face him. Kunou's elbow crashed into his chest sending him flying back the way he came. When his mind had finally had enough time to register what had happened, he felt a strong hand grab his elbow and slam him to the ground.

"Digia-sensei!" he heard one of his students scream. He tried to sit up but the pain in his back told him immediately that part of his spine had been fractured. He closed his blood drenched hands around his head in an attempt to stop his dizziness, but it didn't help. He slowly turned his head to see he was at the bottom of a crater formed by the powerful body slam.

_What insane strength_ he groaned, _Whatever jutsu that was increased both his strength and speed tenfold. The worst part is I get the feeling that this isn't even close to the limit of his powers; whatever those might be. Though I…_

"Having a nice nap?" Kunou laughed from above him.

Despite wincing from the pain of moving his mouth, Digia gave his best attempt at confidence.

"Nope," he smirked, "I'm just getting ready for the next round.

He slid his hands together and closed his eyes.

_Hidden Cloud Village_

The robed man stopped his meditation and stood up on the mat he used for introspection at least three times a day. He didn't have to look. He already knew.

"My guards?' he asked shakily.

"Dead" came a cold voice.

The man wearing the traditional Raikage garments slowly turned around to see a young man wearing black robes with little red clouds on them. The intruder had long raven colored hair and crimson eyes.

"Uchiha Itachi," the Raikage snarled, "I don't know why you've come here but I promise you will not leave this village alive."

"You should not promise that which is beyond your ability to guarantee," Itachi said coldly, "This is not a fight, it's an experiment."

"An experiment?" The Cloud leader slipped into a defensive stance.

"Yes, you should feel honored. You will have the distinction of being the first to die from my new jutsu."

The three tomoe in his right eye widened and converged into the form of a frozen hurricane. With his Mangekyo Sharingan activated, Itachi took a step forward.

"SUSANOO"

_A couple of miles away_

The large tail caught Kunou square in the stomach lifting him off of his feet. As he rose higher and higher, he was able to see the entire body of the large humanoid/snake hybrid. With three heads and three tails, Digia stood over 12 feet tall and was about 18 feet lengthwise. The three pairs of his eyes were dark red and his stomach was covered in his own blood.

Kunou blinked. Digia appeared in front of him. His large fist drove Kunou down into the ground. The Jinchuriki kicked downward on the hole. But, just before the large foot touched the edge of the crater, Kunou leapt out.

His feet touched the ground as all three tails wrapped themselves around him. Digia leaned back and constricted his tails with deadly force.

"All right he did it!"

"I told you he would!"

Still protected by the lightning cage, his students were jumping up and down in celebration. He let out a sigh of relief. Not only was it over but they had not been horrified by his appearance. He hypothesized that they didn't know enough about the world to know that he was using demonic powers.

His eyes widened when he felt something push on his tails from the inside. Kunou was still alive! Digia raised his three heads and drove them into the small opening between his inner most tail. He pulled his heads back out and surveyed his handiwork.

"An Earth Clone?!" he growled when he saw a pile of pebbles where Kunou had been.

Suddenly, a figure burst through the ground and grabbed the end of one of the three tails. With an inconceivable amount of strength, it picked Digia up, spun him around and threw him.

The three headed beast fell nearly 100 feet away leveling several square feet of trees as it slid to a stop. Kunou's hand glowed with pale, green chakra. He quickly sealed all the wounds he had self inflicted. He glanced up from his work in time to see the half human monstrosity slip into a four headed, four tailed form.

"Human Carnage Technique"

Kunou's body became covered with boils. He screamed out in ecstatic pleasure as three deep wounds opened across his midsection.

Digia watched the transformation in horror. He could go under a five tailed transformation but he ran the risk of losing control.

_However,_ he said to himself, _If I don't my students will be done for._

As the green chakra gushed out, he heard the eight tailed demon snake's sly voice as clear as though the serpent was standing beside him. **"More, yes, more,"** Orochi laughed, **"Come on a little further. Let me out of here and I'll make sure nothing happens to those little kiddies."**

There was something compelling about the snake's speech. It took great effort to resist the urge to let the bijuu reign free. He had learned years ago that the trick to staying in control was to monitor his emotions. However, that got even more difficult the longer he stayed in this five-tailed phase. He'd have to end it quickly.

Digia was about to strike when a bright white light appeared on the grass beside the lightning shelter. A humanoid configuration of pure light came out of the ground and stepped through the barrier. The light disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. In its place, stood Sheol. Before the three genin could even think about self-defense, Sheol had whipped out a kunai and slit their throats.

"No!" Digia screamed with grief.

"**Yes!" **Orochi bellowed**, "I'm beginning to…"**

"**Take control,"** Digia finished.

The five tailed, five headed snake hurled itself at towards Sheol. Before it reached the newcomer, Kunou appeared between them. He reached his hands out and grabbed a hold of two of the heads. The snake's forward momentum drove Kunou back a few feet but he held on. Sheol leapt up on top of Digia and quickly molded some chakra.

"Exorcism Technique"

Sheol's hands glowed with chakra. He placed his left palm over the back of his right hand. The chakra beneath his hands spun rapidly forming a large vortex. Dark green chakra flowed from Digia into the fissure. Digia tried to move but Kunou didn't budge.

One of the heads vanished. Sheol separated his hands. The vortex widened into an ellipsoid with a vacuum at the bottom. The chakra transfer doubled in velocity. Before long, two tails and two heads total had vanished. Kunou grabbed both of Digia's hands and crushed them in his own. Digia fell to his knees as another head vanished.

Standing on the Jinchuriki's back, Sheol was breathing hard. He took a deep breath and strained his entire body, exerting as much energy as possible. With a great surge of power, the remaining green chakra rushed into the large bowl Sheol had created.

Digia, now fully human again, collapsed to the ground dead. Sheol stumbled and nearly fell from weakness. He shook with fatigue as he used the last of his chakra to seal off the fully extracted bijuu in a spherical chakra container.

Kunou took the container seconds before his partner fell flat on his face and starting snoring.


	9. Her Greatest Flaw

_A few hours earlier_

Naruto watched the glowing numbers with awe. He wondered why they didn't have these in Konoha. Sure, there weren't many tall buildings in his village, but it had to be hell for handicapped people to have to climb up flights upon flights of stairs. _What had they called it,_ he wondered, _an "elle-vader?"_ Well, whatever its name, he'd have to tell Granny Tsunade about it.

The button labeled "8" lit up and the elevator doors slid open. The guard on Naruto's right simply nodded at the boy. Yamato and Naruto fell into step behind two of the three guards assigned to them as escorts. The third, and oldest, guard took up the rear. The two leading Rock nins led their guests down a long hallway covered in a long, bright red carpet. Lining the walls on either side were portraits of the shinobi who had helped found the village.

At the end of the hallway, they opened an iron door and stepped into a large, oval-shaped office. Sitting behind the large cedar desk on the opposite side of the room was the Shichidaime Tsuchikage Soshi Solkar. There was something elegant about his appearance. He had a stern face with dark brown hair and soft, dark blue eyes that perfectly matched his robes.

When his guards brought the two Konoha shinobi up to his desk, he stood to greet them.

"Captain Yamato, Uzumaki Naruto," he said shaking their hands, "Allow me to officially welcome you to our village. I have arranged housing for your squad for the next month. If you end up staying here longer than that, I will make additional arrangements."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. Why was this foreign ninja being so nice to them? After all, their villages had been sworn enemies not too long ago. Was this a deception or was this guy really being genuine?

He shook his head and told himself to relax. There had to be a reason, after all, for why the Hokage had chosen to send them here.

"Thank you," Yamato said politely, "I'll be sure to inform the Hokage of your kindness."

"Please do," Solkar said with a pleasant smile, "And do send Lady Tsunade my regards."

"You know Granny Tsunade?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Beside him, Yamato's left eye began twitching in irritation at Naruto's blatant display of disrespect. Solkar, on the other hand, was merely amused. He ran his hands over the letter Yamato had delivered to him a few moments before.

"Indeed I do," the Tsuchikage chuckled as he placed Tsunade's letter on his desk atop the one she had sent him a week before, "She and I are old friends and we trust each other immensely. Letting you take refuge here was part of an arrangement she and I made a year and a half ago."

Solkar stopped himself. He had almost said too much.

"But enough about that," he said hastily trying to change the subject, "My guards will show you to your rooms and I'll see you, Naruto, right here at six p.m. sharp."

"What for?" the boy asked.

"Training. I think you'll find that I have much to teach you."

A few minutes later, Naruto and Yamato were reunited with their teammates in front of the capital building.

"That was short," Kiba commented, "I thought for sure you'd have to sit through some long, boring speech or ceremony or something."

"Yeah so did I," Naruto admitted.

"So what is next Yamato-Taichou?" Shino asked.

Yamato pointed to a tall hotel building across the street. "I've been give keys," he said fishing three small, copper keys out of his pant's pocket, "For three rooms over there. Obviously, Hinata will get her own room. Shino and I will take the one across the hall while Kiba and Naruto will be in the one beside us."

He tossed keys to Naruto and Hinata and they all set off towards their new domicile.

Their rooms were on the first floor of the six story building. Hinata let out a delighted, childlike squeal when she saw her room. It was big! It was at least twice as big as the one she had back home. The floor was covered with a soft blue carpet that had signs of recently being vacuumed. Her bed was a king size with four large, fluffy pillows and a dark purple comforter. There was even a deep tub with a number of bubble bath formulas around the tub's rim!

More then satisfied with her living arrangements, she began to make herself at home. Yamato had given them fifteen minutes to settle in before meeting him in the hallway to go to lunch.

_Too bad,_ she mused, _It looks like I'll have to wait until later to try out the tub._

She placed her traveling pack on the floor next to the dresser on the east wall. It was six feet across, five high, and four deep. She quickly pulled out her neatly folded clothes and slid them into the various drawers. She set her soap and washrag on the rim of the tub. She brushed her hair and slid her now empty backpack under the bed.

After a mere five minutes in her room, she stepped out into the hallway. No one else was there. She thought about going back in her room but what would she do for ten minutes? There was no one to talk to in there and taking a nap wasn't an option either. She leaned against the wall and let out a sigh.

flashback

_"If you want him to know how you feel," Yamato said, "If you want to see if he could ever love you back, you have to overcome your greatest flaw: your own insecurities."_

End Flashback

He was right. She might not have another opportunity. Shinobi were given many different assignments over many years. This could be the only time she would ever be assigned to the same team as Naruto. And even if they did get sent on another mission together, she doubted it would be an assignment with as much down time as this one.

She knew better than to expect things to develop overnight. The important thing was to get the process started. She had to make him notice her more. She needed him to be interested in involving her in conversations. Only then could she have any sort of relationship, romantic or otherwise. But what would she say? She didn't know if they had any common interests. They certainly hadn't lived similar lives.

"Hey, Hinata."

Naruto's voice jolted her from her thoughts. The blond boy stood in the doorway of the room he shared with Kiba. He gestured for her to come in. She stood up straight and curiously shuffled in.

This room had obviously been made for two people. Instead of one large king size bed, this one had two queen sized ones. She supposed that they must have put her in a VIP suite.

"Isn't this great?!" Naruto exclaimed, "They even had a spot set up for Akamaru!"

Sure enough, the large white dog was sitting on a large pile of blankets looking thoroughly pleased with himself. Kiba was standing beside his faithful friend rubbing his back.

"Hey Hinata," her teammate called out, "How's your room?"

"It's, it's wonderful," she said softly.

"What did you say?" the boys said in unison.

Hinata felt her face burning red. Why was she always doing this? It seemed like it was impossible for her to speak loudly when Naruto was nearby. She glanced at her feet hoping maybe they'd forget she was there and the awkwardness would take care of itself.

No such luck.

"Are you okay Hinata?" Naruto asked in concern, "I something wrong? Are you sick?"

She tried to speak but nothing came. She closed her eyes so that maybe she could convince herself that she wasn't there; that none of this was happening…

"You guys ready to eat?"

Hinata sighed with relief at the sound of her leaders' voice. Without even looking back at her still confused friends, she hurried into the hallway where Yamato and Shino stood waiting. Naruto and Kiba followed a few moments later.

A few blocks from the hotel was a barbeque restaurant that the hotel manager had highly recommended. The five Konoha shinobi slid into a corner booth and ordered. Hinata was still shaking from her earlier run-in with Naruto and Kiba. Even after convincing herself of the importance of being braver, she had failed to do so. She couldn't help but wonder if she would ever be able to rise above being the shy girl who blended into the background.

Even now, Kiba and Naruto were lost in conversation about some of the new techniques Kiba had developed in conjunction with Akamaru. It didn't seem to matter that she was there. It never did. She wanted so much for Naruto to be talking to her. It didn't matter what it was about. He could even be bragging about…

"What new techniques do you have, Naruto?"

Hinata's eyes widened in shock. Had she just said that? Sure, she had wanted to say it but had that desire found a voice?

"Yeah, well the perverted hermit taught me a bunch of toad techniques and…ah! The food is here!"

A young woman with a white apron and pink visor had come over with a tray covered with plates. Naruto eagerly took his plate and prepared his chopsticks.

"Um, Naruto," Yamato said after the blond genin had stuffed a wad of pork in his mouth, "I think Hinata asked you a question."

Naruto's eyes went as wide as saucers. He looked like a deer in the headlights. He looked at Hinata sheepishly as he slowly chewed a few more times before swallowing.

"Hehe," Naruto chuckled uneasily as he placed his right hand behind his head and scratched it in a display of utter embarrassment, "Sorry about that Hinata. The old pervert taught me some toad techniques and helped me create a better Rasengan."

"Rasengan?" Kiba interrupted.

"It's a technique that was created by the Fourth," Yamato explained.

"Damn," Kiba laughed, "And just when I thought I was catching up to you."

"Does that mean you're backing out of our sparing match tonight?" Naruto smirked.

"Ha, you wish!"

Hinata smiled. She could hardly believe that Kiba and Naruto were now friends. Three years ago, they annoyed each other. After their fight during the Chunin exam, animosity gave way to mutual respect. Then, their shared experiences against the Sound ninjas assigned to escort Uchiha Sasuke to the Tea Country had created a firm bond. It was a bond forged thru the ordeal of risking everything to save a comrade.

"What about you Hinata?" Naruto asked taking a sip of water, "What training have you been doing?"

It was as though the air had been sucked out of the room. She had wanted his attention. But now that she had it, she was panic-stricken. His beautiful, blue eyes were locked intently on her.

"I trained with my cousin," she managed to stutter.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. He was bewildered by the girl's behavior. Just a moment ago, she had asked him a clear question and expressed clear interest in what he had been up to. But now, she had reverted back to being strangely quiet and un-engaging.

"What did ya say?" he asked.

"She trained with Neji," Shino said from beside him.

"Ah," Naruto said with a smile, "I bet you learned a lot."

"I'm sure she did," Yamato interrupted in an attempt to spare Hinata more embarrassment. It was clear to him that she needed to try to get over her fears another time. For a brief moment, she had done it. Though she hadn't meant to. But now her insecurities had won out again and she was going to pieces with every question. She needed a way out so she could recollect and learn from it.

"Are you excited about training tonight Naruto?" he asked.

"I guess," Naruto pouted, "I don't know why this guy thinks he should be teaching me. I mean, you and Kakashi-sensei were able to help me learn chakra nature manipulation. Why can't I just train with you?"

"You very well could, but my knowledge of wind jutsu is very limited."

"So what is he a wind type?"

"No, he can use all five elements equally because of the kekkei genkei passed down through his family line."

"All five? This guy must know everything about elemental jutsu!"

"Idiot," Kiba laughed, "No one knows everything about ninjutsu."

You know what I meant!" Naruto retorted indignantly.

The two boys continued to argue for the remainder of the meal. Yamato glanced around nervously at the other patrons. At first, it seemed as though the other people were more than willing to ignore the quarrel. But as the minutes wore on, with no real change, more and more of them began to shoot the ANBU captain and his subordinates dirty looks. Once Kiba had eaten the last of his food, Yamato cleared his throat.

"Well," he began, "None of us have anywhere to be for a few hours, so why don't you guys check out the shopping strip that Shino saw earlier?"

"Shopping? Strip?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," Shino answered, "During your meeting with the Tsuchikage, Hinata and I did some scouting and found a number of clothing, book, and souvenir shops in the middle of town."

"Oh okay, sure. Let's go Kiba!"

The three boys slid out of the booth and started towards the door. Hinata's face fell in disappointment. It looked like she'd be spending the rest of the day in her room wishing she was with them. Why was it always like this? Even when she was with her teammates, she felt alone because Naruto wasn't there. And now that he was, she still felt un-needed.

She found herself delving further and further into the perpetual fear that she would never be able to change things. What if she never overcame her fears and Naruto found love elsewhere? What if she never found the courage to stand up to her father and tell him not to look down on her or treat her as a nuisance?

"Hinata?"

She looked up to see Naruto standing a few feet away.

"Hinata?" he repeated, "Aren't you coming?"

She smiled widely and slid out of the booth.

_Lightning Country_

Beris slowly opened his eyes and stared up into the glowering eyes of Zetsu. He was lying against a tree with a blanket over him. He slowly sat up wincing from a sharp pain in his side. He had no way of knowing for sure, but it felt as though he had cracked a rib or two. In fact, he felt sore everywhere and suspected he was suffering from a mild concussion.

"What happened?" he groaned.

"You attacked a shadow clone covered with explosives," Zetsu answered without even bothering to mask his disdain for his associate's foolishness, "And if I hadn't acted when I did, you'd be dead."

"Damn. He's probably long gone by now."

"Probably. But, once you've rested a bit more, we'll continue our efforts. We may not be able to catch him but we can at least keep track of where he is."

_Rock Village_

"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken"

Naruto's wind chakra surrounded the rapidly revolving sphere of blue chakra, forming a white outline with triangular edges. Now, the shape of a shuriken, Naruto's jutsu intensified as he forced more chakra into it.

"That's enough," Solkar said.

Naruto's palm flattened and the technique dissipated.

The roof of the village's ninja academy was momentarily covered with smoke as two of Naruto's shadow clones vanished. Solkar smiled in genuine disbelief.

"Wow, that's impressive," he commented, "I can definitely see why you'd be worried about its toll on the body. However, I do believe there is a way to lessen it."

"Really?" Granny Tsunade said it was too dangerous and I should just stop using it."

"She's just worried about you. She sees a bright future for you and knows that if you're too brash, you'll ruin it. Besides, if she really believed the jutsu to be too dangerous, I doubt she would have asked me to help you."

"She did?"

"Yeah, in one of her more recent letters. But enough about that. I think I've figured out what's wrong with your technique."

Solkar reached into the briefcase he had brought with him and pulled out two sheets of paper. He balled one of them up into a tight ball. The other he laid flat on his left hand.

"The problem with your technique is the exact thing that makes it great: the fact that it creates thousands of cuts; cuts so devastating that they damage the enemy at the cellular level. Unfortunately, the fact that your technique is centered upon rapidly rotating chakra held in the hands causes it to cut you too."

Solkar stopped his explanation when he saw that Naruto was scratching his head. _Damn,_ he thought, _she warned me about this too. Although he has talent, he isn't too bright._

"Okay," he said, "Do you understand why Tsunade originally told you not to use the technique?"

"Yeah, it cuts me too."

"Right, it cuts you because there is nothing between your hand and the jutsu. But what if you had chakra covering your hand?"

"Covering…my hand? Oh! That's why you put the paper on your hand? You want me to make a sheet of chakra to protect my hand when I use the Rasenshuriken!"

Solkar shook his head, "No you're only half right. Yes I do want you to protect your hand with chakra. More specifically, you should protect your hand from a wind jutsu with wind chakra. However, you don't want to make it a flat sheet."

"I don't? Then why did you pull out the sheet?"

"Because I…," Solkar closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had to remind himself to be patient. It was the very same exercise of self-control he had learned when raising his daughter. "I have the sheet out flat to demonstrate why a flat wind barrier will not do the job."

He smashed the balled up wad of paper into the flat sheet and spun it around quickly. The wad pulled the thin sheet in on itself and began touching the unshielded palm.

"A flat wind barrier won't work because the chakra is spinning. It would tear through or go around the barrier and slice into your hand."

"So I need to make another shape?"

"Yes but this container that you'll place your technique in must be moving. More specifically, it must be rotating."

"All right," Naruto said, "I'll give it a try."

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu."

_Tsunade's Office_

"Any idea who the new members are?" Shizune asked. The Hokage's aide was standing near the door. Around her stood a number of other Jounin: Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, Genma, Ebisu, Hyuuga Neji, and a noticeably pregnant Yuhi Kurenai.

"Before he died," Tsunade said, "Torajikku was able to supply Jiraiya with the names of three of the twelve new members: Dage Cino, Akuma Bale, and Serit, the Mizukage's eldest son."

"Serit?" Genma asked, "Did he and his father have a falling out?"

"No, it seems he has joined with his father's blessing. Torajikku suspected for some time that the Country of Water was attempting to align itself with Akatsuki. It's possible that they have reached an agreement and Serit's membership in the organization was part of the deal."

"But why would the Land of Water side with Akatsuki?" Neji asked.

"Self-preservation," Tsunade answered, "Akatsuki consists of the most powerful S-class criminals in the world. The amount of damage they could inflict on the Hidden Mist village or any town in the country would be so massive that it would dwarf that caused by Orochimaru's failed invasion a few years ago."

"Exactly," Kakashi commented, "Especially if Cino and Bale have joined their ranks."

"Who are they exactly?" Shizune asked.

"Cino was once a Jounin here in Konoha," Anko said solemnly, "He and I were genin teammates with Orochimaru as our Jounin leader. While I saw through Orochimaru's ambitions and chose to put my loyalty to this village first, Cino was attracted to our sensei's twisted ideals. He was an active participant in all the experiments and learned as many forbidden jutsu as he could. When Orochimaru left the village, Cino left with him. What became of him after that, I don't know."

"As for Bale," Tsunade said, "Jiraiya and I both know him very well. Many years ago, both of us were sent on a mission to capture him. He was developing jutsu with Demonic elements and killing hundreds of civilians in the Sea Country. After an extremely violent encounter, we were barely able to capture him. It frightens me to think how strong he is now. Chances are, he could contend with the likes of Uchiha Itachi."

_Capital City of the Earth Country_

The spiked steel ball crashed into the elderly man's face, the sharp spikes embedding themselves in his skull. A few feet away, a man wearing dark robes with red clouds tightened his grip on the handle of his flail. With a light tug, he dislodged his weapon from the Earth Country's Feudal Lord, ripping a sizeable chunk of flesh from the old man's cranium. The latter's corpse fell back on his throne, mere inches from the body of his wife.

The feudal lord's state room was littered by dozens of cadavers. The guards, state officials, and royal family had all been slain in under three minutes. The assassin was a strikingly handsome man with excellent muscle tone. He had dark brown hair, with sparse gray strands, and cold, impassive hazel eyes.

Just then, a score of bats flew in from a hole in the roof. They accumulated around the throne, flying faster and faster in a tight vortex. Their rotation became so fast that all that could be seen was a black, cylindrical disruption in the air. After a few seconds, the rapid oscillations died down. The bats were nowhere to be seen. In their place stood a second man clothed in the standard issue Akatsuki robes. The newcomer was ghastly pale and had greasy, black hair. His face was narrow with blood colored eyes.

"Impressive," he said with a sinister sneer, "All this bloodshed and you didn't have to use a single ninja technique. You truly live up to the name of Akuma. I'm honored to have drawn you as my partner."

"Whatever," Bale said as he carefully wiped the blood off his weapon, "I get no joy from killing weak people. There are few people that I'm interested in killing."

A third man wearing Akatsuki robes walked in through what was left of the double doors Bale had demolished. He was a younger man with a shaven head and blue skin. As he walked, the ground around him froze, covering the entire area in a thin layer of ice. Upon his crown was the hiate worn by Mist Shinobi. It had a jagged line etched through it.

Bale smirked at the newcomer, "Are you ready Serit? Osmar and I are going to leave you the task of hitting their police headquarters."

Serit nodded.

"Good. Let's go. There's a man in the Rock Village I want to kill; the strongest Tsuchikage in decades: Soshi Solkar."


	10. Those Who Await

Hinata groaned as she turned on her side. She slid her right hand under the bottom pillow and pressed her head against her pillows in an effort to soothe her pounding head. She opened her eyes and felt them burning. She clamped them shut and pulled her covers tight as she rolled up in a ball and prayed for sleep to take her. Her body ached with fatigue. She hadn't been able to sleep all night. She was nervous about seeing Naruto that day; nervous about embarrassing herself in front of him again.

After staying in her scrunched up position for ten minutes, she gave up and got out of bed. As she made her way across her room she slowly opened her eyes in small steps as she adjusted to the sun light pouring through the window she had kept open so she could gaze at the stars. She quickly closed the drapes and walked over to the tub. Moments later, she was sighing appreciatively as the warm water relaxed away the pain in her joints. Now that she could relax somewhat, she racked her brains to try to come up with a plan to get Naruto alone and how she would force herself to be brave. She finally came up with an idea after ten minutes of thinking. She could purchase some food and cook some ramen for him. Even if she wasn't able to talk much, her ability to cook could make him more aware of her and possibly make him enamored with her. She smiled at her own cleverness: using his first love to possibly get him to discover a second.

Hinata drained the water from the tub and dried herself off. After combing her hair, she slipped into some dry clothes and left her room. Outside, the village streets were crowded with people on their way to work and children walking to school, with their books in tow. Maneuvering through the streets would be almost impossible. So, she took to the rooftops using her chakra to leap from building to building on her way to the market. When she reached the middle of town she was momentarily startled by a large puff of smoke. Looking to the east, she saw Naruto standing atop a building she recognized as the ninja academy.

"Damn," Naruto cursed breathing hard. Despite access to the Kyubi's chakra and having large chakra reserves of his own, he was already tired after just three hours of training. The Rasenshuriken consumed a lot of chakra. He knew he only had two, maybe three more tries in him. He wished he hadn't spent the first two hours sparring with shadow clones. Otherwise, he might be able to try the Rasenshuriken an additional time. As it was, he probably wouldn't be able to achieve the modification Solkar had prescribed. He stretched his arms to loosen up for the next attempt. It was then that he noticed Hinata standing behind him.

"Hey Hinata," he said cheerfully as he flew through a number of hand seals.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu"

Naruto produced two shadow clones that stood on either side of him.

"Um, he-hello Naruto-kun," she managed to say, "What…what are you doing?"

Naruto sighed. He didn't really want to talk about his failure to perform a change in chakra flow that should be easy. However, it would be rude not to answer or get irritated with her. After all, it was a perfectly innocent question.

"I'm trying to create a circular, rotating barrier of wind chakra," he explained, "It has to be able to hold in a spinning ball of chakra and it needs to be small enough to fit in one hand."

"Container for a ball," she whispered thoughtfully. The first thing that came to her mind was a simple soccer ball. But, she couldn't think of a container for it other than a bag. A bag, she knew, was not what Naruto wanted. He needed something that could fit in the hand. _In the hand,_ she thought, _If the container has to fit in the palm, so does the ball. Thus the ball has to be even smaller than the container. That rules out any thing the same size or larger than a soccer ball. It needs to be smaller, smaller like…_

"A ball of yarn!" she blurted out.

The shadow clone on Naruto's right stopped creating the rotation for the Rasengan. The second clone and the real Naruto lowered their own hands in dismay at Hinata's sudden outburst.

"Yarn?" Naruto asked bewildered.

Hinata's face reddened. "S-s-sorry, I'll be right back," she managed to stammer.

Before Naruto could question her, she had leapt onto another building and was rushing toward the center of town. Naruto was about to perform his technique again but, his curiosity won out.

"Hey Hinata!" he yelled out as he took off after her, "Wait up!"

_Sand Village_

Baki never even bothered to knock. He stormed into Covane's office and slammed his hands on the older man's desk. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he snarled.

If Covane was intimidated by this display of outrage, he didn't show it. Although he was anything but young, he wasn't frail. He was well-built and could probably still hold his own. Such was expected of a man who was once one of the Suna's elite shinobi. Many years ago, he had gained a lot of recognition in his efforts to end the Third Great Ninja War. He became a hero among the villagers and a seat on the Council followed. It didn't take long for his influence to rival that of the Yondaime Kazekage, Gaara's father.

Covane had supported the Fourth's decision to use Gaara as a weapon but had been dead against Gaara's appointment as the Godaime Kazekage. Five months before when Gaara had been captured by Akatsuki, he had been the first to propose that the council elect a new Kazekage. And, now that Gaara was back he was basing his argument on the absence of Shukaku from Gaara. The irony of this was not lost on Baki.

"Nothing's wrong," Covane smirked, "Or should I say nothing will be after tonight."

Baki shook his head. "You're a fool," he hissed, "Our village has many enemies. Akatsuki, in particular, is a grave threat; a threat that can only be handled by our best shinobi. But, you want the top two ninjas in our village to fight to the death. And it's all because you want to rule the village. You couldn't do it when you were in your prime so you're living your dream through your son."

"You really think we need Gaara? This is the same kid whose lack of stability caused his own father to try and have him killed. The boy is a monster with or without Shukaku. It is true that the repeated attempts on his life during his childhood are partially to blame. However, that doesn't make him any less of a danger to the inhabitants of our village."

"If he is such a danger to this village; if he truly is a monster then why did he choose to save the village at the cost of his own life when Akatsuki attacked us? He put his life second to the village's well-being. That is behavior becoming of a true Kazekage not a monster."

Covane did not seem moved by Baki's words. In fact, he wore the same amused smirk that he had when the Jounin had stormed in. It was obvious to Baki that Covane thought he was delusional. Nothing he said to this man would matter.

"Why are you here?" Covane asked, "Is this some last ditch plea for me to spare your precious student's life?"

It was Baki's turn to smile. "You're a fool," he said for the second time, "You really think Giore will win? If so then you are the one who needs to come to grips with reality. I came to plea for your son's life; not Gaara's."

_Rock Village_

Naruto finally caught up with Hinata outside a pottery store. After minutes of searching, he had spotted her walking out of the store holding a cereal bowl.

"Hinata!" Naruto called when he was able to get near, "Did you just buy that to help me?"

Hinata's face flushed again but she forced herself to calmly answer.

"Yes, I thought this could help."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to spend your money on it. I could've bought it. After all, it is my training."

"Oh, well I just thought that…I'm sorry I should have told you what I was doing."

Naruto was taken aback. She was apologizing for doing him a favor?

"No, no it's okay", he assured her, "I'm not mad at all. I just…well you've bought it so why don't you explain how it's going to help?"

Hinata smiled. Naruto cared about her hurting her feelings; he cared for her! Maybe it was in a romantic way but it was a start!

"Okay," she said, "Follow me."

A few minutes later, they walked into an alley way between two apartment complexes.

"Okay," Hinata said energized with new found confidence, "When I was growing up, my mom used to knit a lot and she kept her balls of thread in a big bowl in the kitchen. I thought of that when you mentioned a container for balls of chakra."

"Yeah, but I also said the container had to be rotating," he pointed out.

Hinata smiled even wider; it was time to amaze him. She crouched down beside a water spicket on a nearby wall. She quickly filled the bowl up half way and lifted it up so Naruto could see it. She moved the bowl clockwise in a circle. Within seconds, the rotation had caused the surface of the water to take the form of a parabola rotating about the center.

"You could also see that a cylindrical shape can be made by a potter's wheel," she added after a bit.

Naruto gazed at the water in the bowl and thought about the implications. Chakra flowed also. If Hinata was right, he could gather wind chakra in his hand and rotate it into a bowl of sorts. Just like when he was learning the Rasengan, he needed to focus on a spot on his palm and make the chakra spin around it.

Hinata stood silently watching Naruto think. She hoped she had done a good job explaining it to him. She had been nervous and might have talked too fast. But when she saw a clear look of triumph on his face, she knew he'd figured it out.

"Yay!" he cried out as he abruptly wrapped Hinata up in a hug, "Thanks Hinata! I know exactly what to do now!"

Hinata was shocked by the sudden display of affection. Her heart started racing and she felt her knees shake. But she didn't faint. Naruto didn't give her a chance to do so.

"Come on," Naruto said taking her by the arm and dragging her along behind him, "Let's get some lunch; I'm buying!"

Standing on a nearby building, Solkar had watched the entire interaction with an amused smile. He had to admit that he was surprised by the boy's cheerfulness. Typically, Jinchurikis were extremely anti-social; often disillusioned by the poor treatment they received from those who were too ignorant to differentiate him/her from the demon sealed within them. But this boy had risen above the hatred he had been forced to endure and had even been able to change the heart of the former one-tailed Jinchuriki Gaara of the Desert. He had only met one other Jinchuriki like Naruto: his daughter.

Flashback: A Year and a Half Ago

_The Hidden Cloud Village's stadium was filled to capacity for the third and final part of the chunin exam. Solkar, his daughter Wahi, and two of his most loyal guards joined the other major officials in the Royal Observation Deck. Sitting to the right of the Raikage was Tsunade. Beside her stood four Suna shinobi. They were the shinobi being considered for the position of Kazekage. He recognized the red-head with the gourd on his back to be Gaara. The tall, handsome blonde man beside him was Giore, the son of Covane. He had not, however, seen the other two before._

_"Auntie Tsunade," Wahi exclaimed as she bound for the Hokage's seat. Tsunade smiled and wrapped an arm around the thin, brown haired teenage daughter of her old friend._

_"It's so good to see you Wahi," Tsunade said, "How was your trip?"_

_"It was fine," Solkar interrupted, "Wahi why don't you save me a seat? Tsunade and I have something we need to talk about."_

_Tsunade stood up and followed the Tsuchikage to the opposite corner of the Observation Deck, where they'd be out of earshot and could still see the first match which had started a few minutes earlier._

_"What's wrong?" the blond Hokage asked._

_"Akatsuki," he whispered, "Jiraiya has been good enough to keep us up to date on their movements. It is probably only a matter of time before they come after Wahi and try to extract the five-tailed demon hound Houkou."_

_"I know what you mean. I have similar concerns for Uzumaki Naruto, the Fourth Hokage's only child."_

_"Naruto? You mean the nine-tails container?"_

_"Yes. A year ago, two of their members Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame came to our village and tried to take Naruto. Currently he is under Jiraiya's protection but when he returns to the village, he'll become a target again."_

_They both turned their attention to the arena floor when they heard an uproar of applause. Inuzuba Kiba stood over the bloody corpse of the unfortunate Grass genin selected to fight him. Once the crowd had settled down, the referee announced the next fight: Yamanka Ino vs. a Rock genin._

_"Other than general concern," Tsunade whispered, "Is there anything else we need to discuss in regards to Akatsuki?"_

_"Actually, I wanted to make a proposition," he answered, "Since Akatsuki knows where Naruto and Wahi live, we could throw them off by relocating them. I'd really appreciate it if you would allow Wahi to live in Konoha until Akatsuki has been dealt with. In exchange, Uzumaki Naruto can take refuge in my village whenever he needs to. Does that sound reasonable to you?"_

_"Yes, but this is your daughter we're talking about. She's the only family you have left. Do you really want to be away from her for several years? We don't know how long Akatsuki will be around. You might not see her for a long time."_

_"I know, but it's a small price to pay for her safety."_

End Flashback

_Three Hours later_

Naruto leapt into the air punching upward with his fist. He had just perfected the Rasenshuriken, thanks to Hinata. He had managed to create a rotating container for the technique by rotating his hand and letting the wind chakra's speed maintain the rotation as he brought his hand to a stop so the shadow clones could create the technique over his hand and drop it in the container when it was done.

"Well done," Solkar said, "Now you are ready to learn something new."

Naruto stopped celebrating and focused intently on what the Tsuchikage had to say.

"You are a close-range fighter," Solkar began, "I can tell by your choice of jutsu. The fact that your chakra has a natural affinity to wind is convenient. There are two chakra elements that are really good for taijutsu: earth and wind."

"Come on, come on," Naruto interrupted, "Get to the point already."

"I'm about to. Anyway, Earth jutsu can be used to enhance your strength and/or protect your body from harm. Wind jutsu, on the other hand, are…"

"Are used for cutting. I know, that why I developed the Rasenshuriken! Come on, shop the lecture and teach me a new jutsu already!"

"Wind jutsu," Solkar continued allowing his voice to rise, "Are used for cutting and enhancing your speed."

"My speed?"

"Yes. In the Land of Wind, many of the shinobi use a technique called Wind Propulsion. They wrap wind chakra around them and use it to accelerate them in a direction of their choice."

Naruto paused for a moment trying to process all the information he'd just been given. He didn't understand all of it but then again he usually didn't. He learned everything with his body. This was sure to be no different.

_Suna: 5:45 pm_

The nine council members and Giore stood around the great conference table conversing. There was a great deal of excitement among most of the members as they were already making predictions on the upcoming fight between Gaara and Giore. Baki and Covane hadn't spoken to anyone in over twenty minutes; they were too busy glaring at each other from opposite sides of the room.

All the whispers ceased as the door at the end of the hall creaked open. A moment later, footsteps could be heard as the newcomer slowly made his way towards the congregation of officials.

"Okay," Covane ordered, "Prepare the barrier. Remember we're using the Rohua Technique. That means each fighter uses a sample of his blood to enter the barrier and the barrier deactivates only when one of the two dies."

"Understood," a younger councilman said as the form of the newcomer became increasingly defined.

"Kankuro?!" Covane exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Where is Gaara?"

"Gaara is no longer in the village," Kankuro said moving to stand beside Baki, "But, before he left he made me acting Kazekage until he returns. So, I'll be the one fighting."

"That's fine with me," Giore smirked. This was going to be easier than he thought.

Covane ignored his son's remark. "You do realize," he said, "That when you lose, Giore will be the undisputed Kazekage and nothing Gaara does will change that?"

Kankuro nodded. "I do. However, I doubt it will come to that."

_Ten miles outside of Suna_

"Deidara-senpai," Tobi complained, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Deidara rolled his eyes. This was the third time his partner had asked him that. In clear annoyance, he pressed his clay bird to speed up. He flew on leaving Tobi in his wake. He looked back and saw that the giant clay bird he had given his colleague had begun to flap its wings at a faster rate. Within seconds, the two Akatsuki members were side by side again; flying high above the desert.

"Don't you think you're underestimating the sand village's Kazekage?" Tobi asked, "In order for a Jinchuriki to survive he or she has to have an enormous amount of chakra in order to keep the bijuu in check. So, even without Shukaku, Gaara possesses an abnormal amount of chakra."

"Which makes him an abnormal threat," Deidara finished, "Don't lecture me damn it! I know all that shit and I also know it doesn't matter! I've fought this brat before and I can beat him again."

Tobi hung his head and fell silent. After a few moments, Deidara felt a pain of guilt for being so short with his partner. He flashed the young masked man a smile and added, "Besides, I've got you Tobi."

Tobi's bird came to a halt. Deidara came to a stop a few seconds later. He doubled back to come alongside the second bird.

"What the hell did you stop for?" he demanded, "Don't tell me you're still upset with me because I came down on you?"

"No," Tobi said nervously, "That's not it at all. There are two people standing at the top of the hill over there."

Deidara placed his binocular/camera eyepiece in front of his left eye and gazed out over the desert. There were indeed two figures about fifty meters away. He sat there for five minutes observing them. They didn't budge.

"Come on," he said, "Let's see what they're up to." He slowly began to fly toward the hill where the mystery men stood. Tobi jumped off his bird and started jogging alongside Deidara. When they reached the bottom of the hill, they stopped. The figure on the left was Gaara, who was staring impassively at Deidara. Standing beside Gaara was…

"You!" Tobi exclaimed, "You're…"

"That's right," the man said taking a step forward, "My name is…"

_Tea Country near its border with the Land of Lightning_

Jiraiya leapt off the village's inn and landed on the street beside Suigetsu.

"You're late," Karin complained, "I expected more from the legendary Jiraiya."

"Sorry about that," he said sheepishly as he looked around at the three adolescent shinobi, "But don't worry, I will uphold my end of the bargain I made with Uchiha…"

_Wind Country's Desert_

…Sasuke"

_Itachi's younger brother? _Deidara's eyes widened. A troublesome opponent had arrived. Beside him, he noticed Tobi flinch.

"Relax Tobi," he said with a smirk, "Just play with the Uchiha boy a little. I'll come back and help once I've dealt with his companion."

With that, Deidara sped away on his clay bird. Gaara gathered sand under his feet and gave chase riding a giant wave of sand that was being continually fed by sand it picked up as it covered ground. Deidara chuckled and crammed his right hand into one of his clay pouches. This was going to be fun.

A/N: I think I should go ahead and make this perfectly clear (because I know someone out there probably wondering) in my fanfic:

1. Pein is not the Akatsuki Leader. Fuzen is. Also Fuzen is nothing like Pein

2. The blue haired member of Akatsuki is not Konan. This woman will actually be a decent shinobi.

3. Tobi is not Madara. He is just Tobi. In chapter 12 I will explain his past. I will not completely explain his abilities…but with the information you will get you should be able to figure that out for yourself


	11. Event Horizon

_Suna_

Three of the council members had moved the conference table into another room, as four others created the barrier which lined the room's walls and ceiling. It even covered the double doors that led into the room. On the other side of the doors stood the entire council, each of whom eagerly awaited the ensuing test of strength.

The two young men inside the barrier had not moved since the chakra fields had surrounded them. They had both assumed defensive positions; waiting for the other to attack.

"All right," Kankuro said breaking the silence, "I guess I'll get things started."

Reaching behind him, Kankuro grabbed the three scrolls fastened to his back and threw them to the floor. When they landed, the scrolls opened up revealing seals that had been made with black ink. A puff of smoke appeared over each scroll.

The smoke cleared to reveal Karasu (crow), Kuroari (Black Ant), and Sanshouo ("Salamander"). Chakra threads extended from both of Kankuro's hands to the three battle puppets. The puppeteer lowered his right index finger, raised the middle one and whipped his hand back.

Karasu opened its mouth and launched four kunai with exploding tags. Giore leapt back performing five hand seals in a blink of an eye.

"Earth Element: Earth Barrier"

The floor shook as a wall of stone erupted from the ground five feet in front of Giore. The four kunai came to a rest. Their sharp points were lodged in the wall. A moment later, the seals became active and the wall was ripped apart by a large explosion. Giore threw his hands in front of his face to protect his eyes from the smoke.

"Blind Spot Destroyer"

Karasu flew towards Giore, pulling up just short of the rubble from the explosion. Its hands collapsed into its arms allowing slender metal barrels to project from its arms. The barrels recoiled as they blanketed the area around Giore with a poisonous purple gas.

"Wind Element: Air Pocket"

Wind chakra gathered around Giore in the form of a sphere. Inside the chakra bubble, the Sand nin let out a sigh of relief. _That was close,_ he thought, _breathing in even a little bit of that gas could be fatal_. He clasped his hands together and concentrated. The bubble expanded to twice its size and then it collapsed blowing the poisonous smoke away.

When the smoke had fully dissipated, Giore was shocked to see that Kankuro was now nearly twice as big as he had been. _What the hell? Did he add puppet attachments so he too will have hidden weapons?_

Kankuro's fingers flew up and down sending Kuroari forward. A small hole opened in each palm and a long, narrow blade projected from each. The puppet lunged forward trying to run Giore through with the left blade. But, just as it came in range, Giore leapt and balanced on the blade. He jumped, spun around, and kicked the puppet away with his left foot.

Just before receiving the kick, Kuroari opened its mouth, emitting a chakra shield that protected its head from total destruction. It flew back and resumed its position beside Sanshouo.

Giore was still in midair when he noticed a kunai flying at his head. He arched his back and the kunai passed mere millimeters above his face. He completed his midair back flip and landed in time to see Karasu had launched a second kunai aimed at his heart. He took to the air once again.

Giore reached the zenith of his jump as Karasu fired a third kunai from its mouth. This one was aimed at his knee. Giore bent his knee to his stomach, pulling his right foot upward. He gathered some chakra around his foot and used it to grab the second kunai as it soared harmlessly below his foot. Like a magnet his chakra pulled the knife up against the sole of his foot. With a hard kicking action, he threw the kunai at the third one. The daggers collided and fell to the ground.

"Wind Element: Wind Lance"

Wind chakra wrapped itself around his right arm and extended out a few inches from his fist where it converged to form a thin, sharp tip. Giore cocked his arm back and hurled the mass of chakra towards Kankuro. As it left his hand and flew through the air it took on a form reminiscent of a jousting lance.

Kankuro quickly swung Sanshouo into position in front of him. The puppet wiggled as Kankuro pulled a series of chakra threads. Part of Sanshouo's back unfastened itself from the rest of the puppet and stood up on its back forming a shield. The wind lance struck the shield creating a large dent that was barely short of puncturing it.

"Wind Element: Wind Vortex"

A swirling portal of wind chakra appeared in front of Giore. A vortex of wind extended from the portal's rear and surrounded him. Then, it suddenly recoiled. The vortex surged back into the portal and reopened in front of it. Giore dropped out of the vortex behind Sanshouo and in front of the puppeteer. With all the power he could muster, he smashed his fist into the right side of Kankuro's face.

The impact drove Kankuro back slightly but he seemed unhurt. _What the hell? _Giore wondered, _that should have sent him the ground, if not knock him out? Has he been working on his taijutsu?_

Giore didn't have time to try and figure it out. Kankuro spun around with startling speed and kicked his opponent away. Giore landed hard on the floor in front of the portal. His eyes widened in terror as Karasu suddenly appeared above him and launched ten shuriken from slits in its sides.

At the last possible moment, chakra from the portal wrapped around Giore and pulled him back through.

"Wind Vortex"

A second portal appeared in front of and diagonal to the original one. Standing behind the first portal, Giore pondered what to do next. _I've already used up about a third of my chakra. So, I either need to restrict my chakra usage or end it quickly. I could use the portals to transport around and whittle away at Kankuro with kicks or punches. Or, I could use "that" technique to end it and use the portals as backup._

"Event Horizon"

Kankuro saw the room and Giore fade away. He found himself hanging onto a tree branch that hung over a river. Strangely, the section of the river below him was a rapidly revolving whirlpool. The currents around the swirling mass of water were so strong that even twenty feet above the water, Kankuro felt a strong tugging sensation. He tightened his grip and held on tight. He knew it was an illusion and falling into the water would probably cause him to plunge deeper into the illusion making escape harder. As it was, escape was nearly impossible because he was focusing almost entirely on not falling into the water.

Outside of Kankuro's mind, a giant sphere of chakra floated in front of Giore. Composed entirely of wind, the sphere was moving so rapidly that its creator had been forced to step through a portal for fear of being blown back.

Outside the barrier, Covane smiled with pride. "It's over," he remarked causing everyone to look at him.

"What is this technique?" another councilman gasped.

"Event Horizon is Giore's ultimate technique," Covane boasted, "It's a combination of ninjutsu and genjutsu. It works by trapping its victim in an illusion and crashing that sphere of wind chakra into him. I have never seen him use it before, but I've been told that its impact is so devastating that it tears the flesh off of the enemy's body."

Just then, the wind chakra levitated up another two feet and shot towards Kankuro like a bat out of hell. All the council members gasped in a mixture of awe and terror as the sphere crashed into the puppeteer.

_In the Desert_

The mouth in Deidara's palm devoured a small mass of clay. He pulled his hand out and curled his fingers inward. After explosive chakra had been integrated into the clay, he opened his hand to admire the two clay birds he had created. He released the birds into the air and turned around on the giant bird to face Gaara. There was a puff of smoke at each bird's location. Both birds left the smoke traveling three times as fast as they had before.

Wave of sand arose from the ground and rushed at the oncoming clay birds. Both birds sped around the waves, getting closer and closer to their mark. Gaara passed his hands over the desert floor causing more sand to rise into the air. With a quick flick of the wrist, he directed a mass of sand that quickly arose and ensnared a bird. His right hand clasped shut as the bird was crushed.

The other bird flew on, quickly bolting through a small opening between three waves of sand. It pulled up inches in front of Gaara. Deidara pushed his right index and middle fingers together and placed them in front of the bridge of his nose. _Detonate_ he thought to himself as the bird exploded.

The smoke cleared, revealing a floating sphere of sand that Deidara knew housed the Kazekage.

"Not bad brat," he sneered, "You couldn't catch even one of these birds last time. Also, it appears I underestimated…"

Deidara cut his taunting short as he heard a loud rumbling noise behind him. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see that a massive wave of sand had formed behind him.

"Desert Avalanche"

The wave crashed to the ground. Deidara flew higher as the sand surged past. Riding upon the top of the sand were 28 Gaaras. Each one raised his arms toward the heavens causing two large waves to sand to speed towards the giant clay bird. Deidara turned on the spot and pressed his bird to go faster. All 56 waves gave chase.

Deidara dug both hands into his clay pouches. His bird lurched violently as a wave of sand appeared in front of him. He cursed as he tugged his hands free and direction his creation into a tight turn. The wave crashed, narrowly missing him. Just as he was about to reach for clay again, another wave appeared and crashed inches away from the bird's tail. He gave up on the clay and leaned in. He tightly wrapped his arms around the bird's neck and prompted it to perform an evasive maneuver reminiscent of a corkscrew. It spun rapidly through an opening between five waves.

The bird soared upward and came about. It glanced off a crashing wave and leap-frogged over two others. Deidara tightened his grip as the bird entered a nose dive. Above him, several more waves smashed into each other. He tugged again on his creation's neck as it raised its head and leveled out.

Suddenly, the bird shook as sand latched onto its legs. Deidara tried frantically to shake it free, but the sand held fast. More sand appeared all around him. He struggled to stand and leapt off as sand encased his bird.

As he fell, Deidara turned around and detonated his bird. It exploded creating a large dust cloud above Gaara's sand clones. Deidara turned again and spread his arms out as Tobi's former clay bird appeared beneath him. He landed with a soft thud and swung his body into a sitting position. The dust cloud was already dissipating. He didn't have much time. His palm mouths consumed several lumps of clay.

"The C2 Dragon"

There was a huge puff of smoke and a large clay dragon appeared in front of Deidara's bird. It veered its head back and spat out another dragon which slowly grew to the size of the original. Deidara and the first dragon flew on away from the sand clones as the second ran into the midst of the clones.

"Art is a bang!!" Deidara shouted as the 28 Gaaras were consumed by a massive explosion. His other dragon landed on the ground as the smoke began to disappear. It immediately set its sights on the original Gaara in his protective shell.

_A few miles away_

Sasuke slid across the ground kicking up sand and dust. He tightened his grip on the kunai in his left hand. He glared at his opponent who had also landed on his feet in a sliding motion. Tobi moved well, but he lacked Sasuke's speed. With his sharingan, Sasuke believed he could win this fight with taijutsu alone. But there was no telling how well Gaara was doing in his fight. He needed to speed things up a bit.

"Fire Element: Grand Fireball Technique"

Sasuke breathed in and exhaled a huge gust of fire that wrapped itself into a massive ball and raced across the desert floor. Tobi unfastened his cloak and threw it aside just before leaping into the oncoming fireball. He emerged on the other side unscathed. He was covered in loose fitting steel armor that had been blackened by the fire.

"Tar Sphere"

Tobi thrust his hands forward, palms pointed at Sasuke. Each palm had a seal on it that was glowing faintly. He placed his arms together side by side so that his two thumbs were touching and parallel. Hot, sticky tar shot out of his palms and congealed into a huge sphere that rolled toward the former Konoha ninja.

"Grand Fireball"

Sasuke expelled another fireball from his mouth towards the tar sphere. He was hoping to cancel out the chakra in Tobi's attack with some of his own. Instead, the tar went straight through the fire without losing any of its momentum. Sasuke jumped to avoid it.

"Tar Blasts"

Tobi stepped forward launching small masses of tar from his palms. Sasuke leaned forward and turned ninety degrees to his right as he dove through a narrow opening in the tar masses. The next barrage of tar flew towards his head. He quickly lunged back, arching his back as the tar soared over his head. Unfortunately, the quick change in direction caused him to lose his balance and he fell towards the earth out of control.

On the ground below, the tar sphere had stopped rolling and flattened out in a pool. Sasuke was seconds from plunging head first into the pool when he reached into his side pouch and readied himself for the only course of action left to him.

"Sharingan Windmill Triple Blade"

Three shuriken attached to wires flew above the tar pool. They passed by Tobi and curved back towards him. Tobi realized that he could not allow the wires to wrap around him. He flew through a series of hand seals.

"Tar Barrier"

He spread his arms out to the side and expelled tar from each hand. The mass of molten stickiness formed a cylindrical shell around him. The wires struck and became weighted down by the tar. They promptly fell to Tobi's feet harmlessly.

The tar barrier collapsed in time for Tobi to watch Sasuke fall headfirst into the pool of tar.

A/N: Okay I thought it would be good to review the Akatsuki members in this fan fiction (though a few have only been referred to by name):

1. Akuma Fuzen

2. Unnamed Blue Haired lieutenant

3. Zetsu

4. Uchiha Itachi

5. Hoshigaki Kisame

6. Deidara

7. Tobi

8. Beris

9. Akuma Bale

10. Kunou

11. Sheol

12. Tenoa

13. Osmar

14. Serit

15. Dross

16. Dage Cino

17. Ryo

18. Lauves

As I go on I'll start printing profiles of them after each chapter.


End file.
